URBAN TOURISM: GLOBAL-LOCAL RELATIONSHIPS IN DALIAN, CHINA

by

Guirong Xiao

A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2007 © Guirong Xiao 2007

AUTHOR’S DECLEARATION

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners.

I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public.

ii ABSTRACT

China used to impress the outside world as a country that was focused on its own development with few links with the rest of the globe. However, thinks have changed and now China is an increasingly important global player. This research uses a case study approach to demonstrate this more recent dimension. By looking into the general patterns of urban development and urban tourism in Dalian, a coastal city of northern China, the study documents the efforts that a city in a developing country has made at different stages to link its social and economic development with the global scene, although some of these relationships were imposed by external world powers. Unlike many other Chinese cities which have experienced many planning initiatives, Dalian municipal officials had the foresight to have tourism development included in their urban plans as early as in 1980s, although the real importance of the role of tourism did not materialize until the late 1980s. It has been shown that tourism development of the city has been an integral part of and complementary to the overall urban development strategy. It has helped to strengthen the image of a city whose leaders have been keen to present it as clean, modern, active, and eager to promote itself to the rest of the world. They have striven to do this even though the city is still more influential at the regional rather than the global level. The environmental enhancement has not only upgraded the city’s competitive competence but, along with the construction of numerous tourism facilities, of which conference centres are an example, also embodied the notion put forward in the paper that urban facilities are largely multifunctional and are aimed at and used by clients with multiple purposes. This also implies that tourism is not an end in itself but is one means of facilitating urban development.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This author is grateful for the helps from many people throughout her PhD ‘process’, with special appreciation extended to: Doctors Geoff Wall, Peter Hall, Stephen Smith and Peter Deadman for their patience and insightful and inspiring inputs; Dr. Abby Liu for her critical encouragement in my determination of the PhD studies; Faith Mansfield and her family, Lynn Finch, Tracy Zhou, Huang Pu, Fulin Chen and Wei Chen for the friendship they have given to me when I was in homesick struggles; Prof. Chunyou Wu, Mr. Zhenwan Liu and Mr. Jiateng Chu for their recommendations of effective data sources during my field studies; and Finally, to my parents, husband and daughter, who always believed in my potential and encouraged me to fulfill my dreams.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...... 1 1.1 AN OVERVIEW...... 1 1.2 RESEARCH GOAL AND OBJECTIVES ...... 3 1.3 DISSERTATION OUTLINE...... 4 CHAPTER 2 CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT...... 5 2.1 URBAN TOURISM ...... 5 2.1.1 Tourism...... 5 2.1.2 Towards Urban Tourism...... 6 2.1.3 Defining Urban Tourism ...... 18 2.2 STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ...... 20 2.2.1 Worldwide...... 20 2.2.2 Site Specificity ...... 23 2.3 FRAMING THE THEME...... 25 2.3.1 Between the global and the local...... 25 2.3.2 Cities in globalization ...... 27 2.3.3 Policy and Planning...... 31 2.3.4 The development of MICE tourism...... 34 2.3.5 Players in MICE tourism...... 39 2.4 SUMMARY ...... 41 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH APPROACH AND METHODS...... 43 3.1 THE CASE STUDY APPROACH ...... 43 3.2 DATA COLLECTION ...... 45 3.3 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY SITE ...... 52 3.3.1 Tourism and cities in China ...... 52 3.3.2 Changing Momentum...... 58 3.3.3 Case of Dalian...... 63 3.4 SUMMARY ...... 65 CHAPTER 4 A TALE OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN DALIAN ... 66 4.1 GENERAL GEOGRAPHY...... 67 4.2 LOCATION AND FUNCTIONS...... 71 4.3 SPATIAL EVOLUTION...... 74 4.4 TOWARDS URBAN PLANNING...... 76 4.4.1 Concession under Tsarist Russia (1889-1904) ...... 77 4.4.2 Occupation by the Japanese (1905-1945)...... 78 4.4.3 Planning after the Establishment of P.R. China (1949-2000)... 78 4.5 TOWARDS TOURISM PLANNING...... 83

v 4.5.1 National policies and regulations on tourism...... 83 4.5.2 Functional relations among different levels of administration.89 4.5.3 Relationships between urban and tourism planning...... 90 4.5.4 Tourism planning for Dalian ...... 91 4.5.5 Summary...... 94 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ...... 96 5.1 INTRODUCTION...... 96 5.2 REFLECTION ON THE PLANNING HISTORY...... 97 5.4 CONVENTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ...... 109 5.4.1 Existing pattern of the MICE industry ...... 109 5.4.2 Measures in place...... 114 5.4.3 A platform open to the world...... 116 5.5 CHANGING STAKEHOLDERS ...... 121 5.5 SUMMARY ...... 129 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS ...... 131 REFERENCES: ...... 142 NOTES…………………………………………………………………...157

vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 2.1 Pros and cons of convention centre development ...... 35 Table 3.1 Interviews in Dalian...... 49 Table 3.2 Interview guide for urban facilities, especially the convention centre participants and tourism managers...... 51 Table 3.3 General interview guide...... 51 Table 3.4: Domestic tourism growth ...... 54 Table 3.5 Changing inbound tourist arrivals in 28 key tourist cities of China (1982-2001)...... 57 Table 3.6 Comparison of the top ten Chinese cities in revenue and tourist flows (inbound)...... 57 Table 3.7 Comparison of inbound tourist arrivals in the three key tourism economic regions (1990-2003) ...... 58 Table 4.1: Population scale of Dalian City (unit: thousand) ...... 70 Table 4.2: Land use of Dalian City...... 70 Table 5.1 Tourist perceptions on the overall urban image of Dalian ...... 107 Table 5.2 Dalian convention and exhibition industry (1996-2005) ...... 112 Table 5.3 Functions of the government, association and enterprise in MICE ...... 118

Figure 2.1 Urban tourism and leisure settings...... 10 Figure 2.2 Interrelationships among the main players in MICE tourism..... 41 Figure 3.1: Inbound tourist arrivals in China ...... 53 Figure 3.2: Ratio between revenues generated by inbound and domestic tourisms in 2004...... 55 Figure 3.3 The driving mechanism of urban tourism ...... 59 Figure 3.4 Changing travel purpose of inbound tourists to China………... 59 Figure 3.5 Changing travel purpose of domestic tourists in China ...... 59 Figure 3.6: Inbound arrivals in Dalian, Xi’an, Guilin and Kunming between 1982 and 1988...... 61

vii Figure 3.7: Comparison of the inbound international arrivals between Dalian and China from 1991 to 2005 ...... 62 Figure 3.8 Ratios of inbound to domestic tourism in China and Dalian ...... 62 Figure 3.9 Inbound tourist arrivals in Dalian ...... 63 Figure 3.10 Inbound Arrivals in Dalian and Qingdao between 1995 and 2005 ...... 63 Figure 4.1 Dalian, China...... 67 Figure 4.2 The city of Dalian...... 68 Figure 4.3 City structure of Dalian ...... 71 Figure 4.4 Economic location of Dalian...... 72 Figure 4.5 Geographical location of Dalian in tourism...... 74 Figure 4.6 The evolution of Dalian (1:200,000)...... 77 Figure 4.7 Functional relations among various administrative levels of tourism in China...... 89 Figure 5.1 Model of driving mechanism for Dalian urban tourism development...... 106 Figure 5.2 Macro operating model of MICE industry in Dalian...... 115 Figure 5.3 Suggested operation model of MICE tourism in Dalian...... 121 Figure 5.4 Decision making process for an urban facility...... 123 Figure 5.5 Dalian Xinghai Square and the conference centres (the first & second phases)...... 125

viii Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 An Overview

After experiencing the symptoms in the 1970s and the early 1980s of what has

frequently been called the “urban crisis”, some of the principle large cities in the world

regained something of their former leading position on the wave of worldwide economic recovery. The process of urban revival seems to have been much more selective than that of urban decline: the social and economic climate, definitely favourable at least for the larger cities, did not automatically reverse the “negative spiral”. Only where cities were left with sufficient potential, and local administrations had adopted an innovative and active urban revitalization policy, can strong renewal and a genuine interest in the central city on the part of residents be observed.

In an increasingly competitive environment, urban policy has thus become urban

management. With city marketing, creative project financing and public-private

partnerships as the main ingredients in the recently formulated renewal plans of many

cities, an important role has been reserved for an activity typical of post-industrial society:

tourism.

Rather than engage mostly in the manufacturing of the 1960s and 1970s, many cities

now invest their efforts for urban growth in competing for the right mix of local links to

the transnational web of commodity chains, streams of tourists and conventioneers,

advanced service industries, innovation clusters, and rapidly shifting niche consumption

spectacles. Every city endeavors to reach “up” into the speedy transnational flows of

wealthy residents, tourists, investors and events, to pull them “down” into the locality that

matters for the local economy. The expansion of tourism and consumption has given rise

to what Clark (2004) has dubbed “The City as an Entertainment Machine.” Therefore,

1 urban tourism is beyond doubt becoming – rightly or wrongly – a cornerstone of modern urban management.

The development of tourist research reflects a spatial bias: studies of urban tourism

have not only experienced a slow increase, but have also tended to rely on methodologies

that, given the complexity of the modern metropolis, are inadequate. Urban tourism, with

all its peculiarities, deserves to be profoundly studied for its own sake.

The growing influence of images and visual metaphors in marketing, communications,

and nearly every other realm of social interaction has, to some extent, become an engine

of the cultural turbulence of the postindustrial society. Individuals as well as public and

private institutions of all types routinely create images as symbolic capital and as

strategically coded cultural representations designed to influence consumer behaviour or

to build brand awareness (McCallum et al. 2005). One critical factor in the success of

cities has been the increased supply of facilities and accommodation (Law 2002), which

are often among the most important components of the urban images. While we are often

told of the importance of touristic appeal in urban images (Page 1995), and image

formation has been part of many recent tourism decision-making models (Pearce and

Butler 1993; Baloglu 2001), the decision-making process that is involved in putting them

together is seldom addressed. Similarly, the roles that various stakeholders play in the

course of the development of specific facilities have seldom been documented, and even

less information is available about how the decisions concerning a facility’s coming into

being fits into the tourism development of an area. This is especially the case when the

multi-functional urban characteristics endow the facility itself with multiple roles. There

is an obvious dearth of research on the multifunctional urban facilities that are multi-sold,

2 especially in the context of the creation of urban images and tourism development. This

study will contribute to this area of scholarship and practice with a focus on one such

facility, a conference centre.

1.2 Research Goal and Objectives

The basis for the research questions lies in the assumption that many facilities in

urban areas are multi-functional and the decision-making process involves different

stakeholders with different expectations. Given that there are not many studies on the

decision-making process for multi-functional urban (tourism) facilities, the goal of this

research is to identify the role of tourism in the urban planning and development decision making process, thus contributing to the theory and practice of decision making in urban

tourism development. The objectives of this research are to identify the stakeholders

involved in the process; their changing roles over time; the flexibility of the planning

process to accommodate and respond to changes; and the compatibility of such a facility

as a convention centre with the processes of urban and tourism development. The

ultimate goal is to provide knowledge and recommendations for sound planning and

management of urban tourism in a developing country like China so as to take more

interest groups into consideration and thus contribute to a more inclusive form of

development that engenders lasting benefits that are widely dispersed.

In order to fulfill the objectives, the following questions will be explored:

• What are the goals and objectives for tourism development in the city? How do

they complement or contradict the overall development strategy for the city?

• Who have been the stakeholders, what have their roles been, and how have these

changed over time? Who are the emerging key players within the process of

3 decision making? Is planning sufficiently flexible to accommodate the interests of

new players and to respond to and guide change successfully?

• Were the multifunctional facilities (such as convention centres) built as part of the

overall urban development strategies? Why were they built? Whose idea was it?

What stakeholders were involved? Who made the critical decisions? Who

provided the money? What was the decision-making process like? What was in

the location before? Was the new facility seen as contributing to the city’s image

as a business or tourism centre or both? Was the development seen as being part

of a city revitalization program? Was the new facility seen as addressing

seasonality concerns?

1.3 Dissertation Outline

The dissertation is organized into six chapters. Following the research goal and objectives outlined in the first chapter, the concepts underlying the research questions are explored, and related literature is examined to identify the gaps that are addressed by this study. Chapter 3 details the research methodology and chapter 4 describes the case study which was undertaken in Dalian in northeast China. The findings and implications on a broader scale, as they relate to the gaps identified in the literature and the questions put

forward in chapter 1, are discussed in chapter 5. Conclusions and recommendations

derived from the analysis are offered in the final chapter.

4 Chapter 2 Conceptual Context

2.1 Urban Tourism

2.1.1 Tourism

The last half century has witnessed many efforts to define tourism1 (Mathieson and

Wall 1982; Smith 1988; Parker 1999; Williams and Hall 2002; Hall and Page 2002).

Though the notion of tourism is still open to multiple conceptualizations which rest on the ontological, epistemological, and paradigmatic assumptions of the viewer2 (Hall et al.

2004), five characteristics associated with tourism can be identified (Burkart and Medlik

1981 in Page 2003):

• Tourism arises from the movement of people to, and their stay in, various

destinations;

• There are two elements in all tourism: the journey to the destination and the stay

including activities at the destination;

• The journey and the stay take place outside the normal place of residence and

work, so that tourism gives rise to activities which are distinct from those of the

resident and working populations of the places through which tourists travel and

in which they stay;

• The movement to destinations is of a temporary, short-term character, with the

intention to return within a few days, weeks or months; and

• Destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or

employment remunerated from within the places visited.

Therefore, for the purpose of this study, the official definition offered by WTO (1994)

is adopted:

5 Tourism is the set of activities engaged in by persons temporarily away from their

usual environment, for a period of not more than one year, and for a broad range of

leisure, business, religious, health, and personal reasons, excluding the pursuit of

remuneration from within the place visited or long-term change of residence.

2.1.2 Towards Urban Tourism

Although urban tourism can be defined simply as tourism in towns and cities, it is

apparent that the field is more complex.

2.1.2.1 Ignorance of the field

Decades ago, Stansfield (1964) pointed out that there was from the beginning of

academic studies into leisure behaviour outside the home an assumption of an “inherent

opposition between the two environments, urban and non-urban, resulting in a strong and

presumably widespread desire for residents within one to seek recreation in the other”.

This idea was reinforced by one of the first spatial models of recreation behaviour

(Christaller, 1964) which assumed a centre-periphery relationship between cities that provided visitors and countryside that received them. These beginnings set the tone for a generation’s work in the geography of recreation and tourism so that more than 20 years

later the non-urban bias and consequent neglect of the recreation and tourism function in

urban areas was still a source of surprise (Pearce 1987; Ashworth 1988).

Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) identified three characteristics of tourism in cities:

first, the tourism activities of cities exist within a wider regional and national tourism

context, whether in terms of organizational structures, visitor place-images, spatial

patterns of visitor behaviour, or distributions of tourism resources. The urban central

place occupies a pivotal position within the functional networks in the wider regional

6 hinterland. Secondly, and to an extent contradictorily, cities exist within functional networks with each other regardless of, and separate from, their regional or national context. This is particularly marked in tourism where a mixture of inter-urban cooperation and competition can create various sorts of national and international tourism circuits. Finally, tourism in cities is dominated by variety, in two senses. The variety of facilities on offer to visitors, and thus the variety of types of holiday experience, is in itself one of the main attractions of cities. Equally these facilities are rarely produced for, or used exclusively by, tourists but are shared by many different types of user: in short, the multifunctional city serves the multimotivated user (see also Shaw and Williams 2002:

244).

The specifically urban characteristics of tourism in cities, as mentioned above, make

it difficult to isolate either tourism resources, tourism facilities, or the visitor3, from other resources, facilities or users within the city, or indeed the individual city in this respect from other cities or from its regional and national context. These intrinsic difficulties may help to explain the double neglect that has occurred in the study of urban tourism: those concerned with the phenomenon of tourism as such have generally failed to consider it within its urban context, preferring instead to pursue systematic studies of various aspects of tourism; while, conversely, those interested in urban studies have generally failed to give a systematic consideration, commensurate with its importance, to the tourism function that is frequently rendered all but invisible by its very ubiquity and integration in the urban scene (Ashworth and Tunbridge, 1990).

7 2.1.2.2 Growth in interest

It is perhaps surprising that – starting quietly in the 1970s, gradually accelerating in

the 1980s, exploding in the 1990s, and invading and encompassing the early years of the

21st century – many scholars of the city were slow to recognize that, by the late 20th century, manufacturing was no longer the backbone and primary instrument of metropolitan growth. Gradually, however, most came to recognize that services 4 had become the new engine running the metropolitan economies. Corresponding with this, an array of urban geographical studies was undertaken tuned to aspects of location differentiation, industrial specialization, intensification, globalization 5 and network

relations on cities, to name but a few topics (Abbot 1996; Harris et al. 1996; Sassen 2002).

More recently, Daniels and Bryson (2002) have argued that the ongoing transformation

of advanced economies has yielded increasingly complicated production chains that

frequently blur the boundaries between the service sector and manufacturing6.

Following on from the above, two general conclusions (Law 2002) appear that are

particularly relevant to cities: first, economic activities are much more locationally

footloose than they were in the past and, as a consequence, firms have a greater choice of

locations. Cities have to be competitive to retain firms and to attract new activities (see

also section 2.3.2). A second conclusion is that there is a great variety in the experience

of cities in the developed world. The worst affected have seen a decline of output or

employment; poor environments left behind by industrialization and deindustrialization

which have reinforced a bad image and made it difficult to attract new economic

activities. Others have suffered less from deindustrialization and have an economic

structure more predisposed towards growth. Location in the ‘right’ part of the country

8 coupled with a relatively favourable image has enabled them to attract new economic

activities. So-called world cities have been the beneficiaries of globalization, attracting

business from an increasingly interconnected world7.

Under broad-based economic changes, Law (1993) identified four factors that have propelled cities toward the service sector development, including tourism: the decline of long-established manufacturing activities; the need to create new economic activities or face high unemployment; the perception of tourism as a growth industry; and the hope that tourism development will result in the regeneration and revitalization of urban cores.

This author would add two more to the list, that is, rapid globalization and the still important role cities play in the process of capital accumulation (Nyiri, Pal, 2006) (see section 2.3). The intersection of these trends has led to two distinct forms of tourism- urbanization8: one is the redevelopment of manufacturing centres as novel tourism sites, and the other is the creation of new resorts to ride the wave of the contemporary tourism boom9 (Chang et al. 1996). In order to attract mobile investment and activities, cities must first gain attention in an increasingly competitive situation and this has meant that increased attention has been devoted to the creation and propogation of urban images.

2.1.2.3 The structure of urban tourism

Shaw and Williams (2002) suggested that the urban environment itself, with all its

attributes, is a “leisure product”. Jansen-Verbeke (1986) had previously presented a

framework that breaks down this leisure product into a number of elements, thereby

identifying key components of urban tourism. Her schematic diagram (Figure 2.1)

indicates the structure of urban tourism and draws attention to the most important

9 features that contribute to the urban tourism experience and, therefore, require the attention of planners of urban tourism (Wall 2005).

Primary elements

Activity place Leisure setting

• Cultural facilities Physical setting • Entertainment facilities • Historical pattern • Events and festivities • Monuments • Exhibitions, craftworks • Art objects • Parks, green spaces • Waterfronts, canals, harbor

Social/cultural characteristics • Liveliness of the place • Language, local customs, folklore • Way of life

Secondary elements

Catering facilities Shopping facilities Markets

Conditional elements

Accessibility, parking facilities Touristic infrastructure (information bureau, signposts, guides)

Figure 2.1 Urban tourism and leisure settings Source: Jansen-Verbeke (1986)

Jansen-Verbeke (1986) saw urban tourism as consisting of three main elements or levels of facilities: primary elements covering major tourist attractions, which in turn are supported by retail and catering facilities (secondary elements), and a general tourism infrastructure (conditional elements) (Figure 2.1). The “primary elements” are divided into two fundamental aspects. There are the “activity places”, or facilities and events that are the main attractions, and the “leisure settings” that are aspects of the environment in

10 which these facilities are embedded and which also may be attractive in their own right.

The latter covers both physical as well as socio-cultural attributes of the city. Both are

important because visitors spend only part of their time in specific facilities and they also

wish to enjoy the ambience of the city. Ideally, there should be concentrations of facilities

together with characteristic environmental features (Wall 2005).

With various studies leading to the conclusion that tourism facilities and supporting elements have distinctive and diverse spatial distributions within urban areas, all of the above elements are important and each could be analyzed in detail. Moreover, when taken together they are fundamental components contributing to the character of urban environments. They can be considered as a series of nodes, areas and the routes that link them. Such tourist nodes and pathways can be defined by the location of major tourist attractions and functional districts, enabling the tourist city to be geographically identified (Wall 2005).

2.1.2.4 Themes of Urban Tourism

With the growing interest in urban tourism in the past decade or so, it is possible to

identify a number of themes that are receiving increasing attention both as areas of

academic research and as practical issues.

¾ Urban Regeneration

Since at least the 1970s both the world cities and the older industrial cities have found

themselves in a more competitive environment. The effects of globalization and

decentralization have been experienced in the running-down and closure of activities and

establishments which have often resulted in derelict and under-used areas on the edge of

the city centre and in the inner city. Cities have needed to attract new and growing

11 activities which will provide jobs and assist in the physical regeneration of inner city zones. To many cities, tourism has appeared to be such an activity, destined to grow with increasing affluence, leisure time and easier mobility (Law 2002). Moreover, it is an activity for which cities already had a basis: in their visitor attractions, historic buildings, sports and cultural events. This is particularly evident in many of the port cities of the world where waterfronts have been redeveloped to give the public greater access to the shoreline, by creating mixed residential, business, shopping and recreation facilities that are attractive to both residents and tourists (Wall 2005). In such situations, tourism was never perceived as being a panacea for all urban problems but was widely perceived as being a possible part of the solution.

¾ Image Building

The above types of redevelopment are often part of an attempt to create a new place and a new image for the city. The development of facilities and services, together with the accompanying promotion of a strong, distinctive image, is thus interpreted as one dimension of intercity competition and the growth in place marketing in general (Pearce,

2001). The idea that tourism is an industry of great potential importance and one that should be encouraged in cities has been accepted for several decades by most major cities and their managers in the United States. During the 1980s, there was a large stream of

British visitors to places like Baltimore and Boston to learn about this experience (Falk,

1987). Thus American patterns diffused to Britain and the rest of Europe with much copying of attractions, buildings and even place-names. The trend is now receiving increasing attention in Asia.

¾ Culture and Heritage

12 Site-specific considerations have made many urban areas turn increasingly to culture and heritage as a means of raising their competitive profile (Chang et al. 1996). Heritage conservation creates and presents images of urban culture and sophistication that act as vital lures to contemporary travelers. According to Robins, “even [in] the most disadvantaged places, heritage or the simulacrum of heritage, can be mobilized to gain competitive advantage in the race between places” (1991: 38). Cities embark on tourism strategies from an unequal footing because local factors such as the inheritance of fine buildings, history and population characteristics, as well as mediating conditions like an unfavorable industrial image or a history of social disorder, all interact to create different outcomes (Law 2002). Still, a cultural or heritage synergy in tourism often implies a win/win strategy. For tourism, it creates more reasons to visit a destination, increases visitors’ spending, and might be a solution to the challenge of seasonality in tourism.

Through cultural tourism, there may well be a larger audience and increased revenues, a heightened organizational profile and costs shared with more partners. Ideally, more wealth might even be brought to the developments of both tourism and the community.

¾ Special/Mega Events and Hallmark Buildings

While exploring the role of mega events in shaping distinctive forms of contemporary urban tourism, Weiler and Hall (1992:1) argued that “Hallmark events are the image builders of modern tourism”. They are extremely significant not just because of the visitor component of the event itself but because of the impact they have on host communities (Roche 1992, 1994; Hall 1995, 1998). More and more cities create festivals and special events as economic activities and means to attract positive attention and thus contribute to image formation. However, not all cities are like Barcelona and Bilbao that

13 appear to have been able to create a new image either because of a mega event or an

iconic building. Montreal’s experience is a case in point – the staggering debt from the

Olympics alone has compromised city finances for over a quarter of a century (Levine

2003). In most cities, regional markets continue to be the base for the expansion of leisure facilities with international visitors still being poorly represented as a proportion of users (Law 2000).

The above is a brief and incomplete list of themes that is illustrative of current issues

in urban tourism. Furthermore, these topics are not discrete but are closely intertwined.

For example, the hosting of mega-events can be viewed from the perspective of the

“entrepreneurial city”10 with its emphasis on the role of the enterprise, governance (a shift from the management of public services to the promotion of economic competitiveness), linked with image-making (Cochrane et al. 1996; Short and Kim 1999).

In addition, notions of image and place are linked with the ways in which cities are being transformed into products in order to both exploit and enhance “cultural capital” (Waitt

1999).

It is rarely self-evident that a location must be visited; thus, some significance must

be assigned to it that invests it with importance. Place marketing has been seen as a

welcome planning instrument by city managers attempting to come to terms with the

impacts and opportunities manifest in the increasing consumer demands being made upon

cities (Ashworth and Tunbridge 2004). Cities have adopted image advertising, a development that can hardly escape any traveler who opens an airline magazine and reads

its formulaic articles on the alleged culinary and cultural delights of Dallas, Frankfurt,

Auckland or elsewhere (Fainstein and Judd, 1999). Each city tries to project itself as a

14 uniquely wonderful place to visit, where an unceasing flow of events constantly unfolds.

With tourists’ fickle tastes and desires, the constant transformation of the urban landscape

to accommodate tourists has become a seemingly permanent feature of the political

economy of cities11. Local marketers realize that they must do more than merely shape

the images that tourism entrepreneurs sell. They must also “adapt the ‘product’… to be

more desirable to the ‘market’” 12 (Holcomb 1993). Some cities possess qualities that

make them an easy sell, while others must undergo not only a change of image but a

facelift if they are to be competitive. “The globalization of mass tourism leads to an odd paradox: whereas the appeal of tourism is the opportunity to see something different, cities that are remade to attract tourists seem more and more alike” (Fainstein and Judd,

1999), but the variation in the impacts of tourism and its multiple meanings, depending on type of tourist and context, call for an examination of individual cases.

2.1.2.5 Stakeholders of Urban Tourism

In conceptualizing the different ways one might view urban tourism, Ashworth

(1992a) identified four approaches: “facility approaches” concerned with locational

analyses of tourism facilities; “ecological approaches” focusing on urban morphological

models; “user approaches” examining the profile, impacts, and perceptions of visitors;

and “policy approaches” looking at urban management policies and marketing efforts.

Seen from a different perspective, they imply that a wide variety of different stakeholders is involved in urban tourism.

Users (communities and visitors)

Whichever approach is used for the study of urban tourism, it is likely to incorporate the users of the facilities and their impacts on the physical, social and economic

15 environments that have evolved with the development of urban tourism, or vice versa.

While mentioning the users, it is also important to acknowledge the importance of the communities in which the facilities are located.

Community comes from the word communion, to share a common task together. In the sharing of tasks, people can bigger things than they are capable of alone. When this occurs there is something to celebrate (Roddick, 2000: 55). However, the term

‘community’ is ‘delightful in its simplicity, complex in its meaning, and difficult to define’ (Barkham 1973: 218). Joppe (1996: 475) claimed that community is a self- defining term ‘based on a sense of shared purpose and common goals’. Community can grow from mutual interests, such as caring for the environment. A community can also reflect geographic features and spatial relationships, such as natural boundaries that may define a region. However, a review of definitions and uses indicates that community has three general dimensions: social functions, spatial area and external recognition (Murphy and Murphy 2004). So far as this research is concerned, it refers to those having access to and being impacted by the facilities in question, with a primary focus on the local residents, although they may have little direct involvement in the decision-making process in Chinese urban affairs. What is more, the unique characteristics of urban tourism discussed above make the understanding of the involvement of both the local residents and visitors vital, and it may be difficult in many cases to distinguish each from the other concerning the use of the multi-functional facilities in a city.

Makers and facilitators of policies/plans/infrastructure (governments, institutions and agencies)

16 It is generally noticeable in tourism studies that the choice of themes of interest and the methods of approach have more often been determined by practical rather than theoretical considerations. The development of tourism as an academic discipline can be described as “policy-led” in the sense that theory, the search for generalizations, conceptualizations and explanations, has usually followed a research agenda that has been defined by immediate policy needs (Ashworth 1989). This has been especially the case at the urban scale where tourism has been recognized as being both an important threat and opportunity to be managed, planned or exploited by practitioners in the public or private sectors long before it was accorded similar recognition as an important focus of academic study. Thus any review of urban tourism must acknowledge the role of a wide range of statutory bodies, variously designated in different countries, who have undertaken tourism research as part of their pursuit of particular policy aims in particular cities.

Higher levels of government may be involved through urban tourism management programmes and enactment of management acts, such as those for waterfront revitalization (Yarnell 1999; Goodwin 1999). During the planning and design process, the role of government is critical for success (Craig-Smith 1995), which includes establishing the preconditions necessary to attract private investment. Public investment to replace or upgrade infrastructure to serve the city and to develop public spaces will re- establish investors’ confidence in such high-risk areas as waterfront/coastal zones and derelict industrial areas (see the case of Dalian in this study). Government, through its planning and adoption of regulations and inducements, can establish a development theme for urban tourism; set the scale, quality, and sequence of projects, and ensure that a

17 long-range perspective prevails over the course of sequential and independent

development decisions.

Private sector (investors and practitioners)

Although governments are expected to continue to play important leadership, policy- setting and regulatory roles, it is clear from numerous examples that more and more important initiatives are coming from non-governmental organizations and that partnerships between the public and private sectors, and between private and non- governmental sectors have significant potential to clarify issues, to establish common ground and to galvanize constructive action (Patton & Witzling 1989).

The requirement for capital to implement initiatives within the urban tourism themes

mentioned in section 2.1.2.4 raises the question of access to and availability of finance.

Indeed, the more extensive the scale of the development, the greater the dependence on

private investment is likely to be. However, the ratio of public to private financing is

likely to vary with the phase of development, the former being likely to be most

significant initially and the latter becoming more forthcoming once basic infrastructure is

in place. A number of new financing vehicles have been based on the central premise that

the most effective use of public money in urban regeneration is to use it to stimulate

access to greater investment from the private sector (Adair et al. 1999).

In short, the development of urban tourism involves many stakeholders and needs the

combined efforts from a diversity of interest groups, especially if a city endeavors to

shape a consensus concerning the image to be promoted in the fast-changing

globalization circuits.

2.1.3 Defining Urban Tourism

18 In discussing whether urban tourism is a distinctive phenomenon, Ashworth (1992)

emphasized two interrelated sets of factors: the setting and the activities that occur there.

Blank (1994), Pearce (1995) and others stressed that urban areas are distinctive and complex places. Four commonly accepted qualities of cities are: high physical densities

of structures, people, and functions; social and cultural heterogeneity; an economic multifunctionalism; and a physical centrality within regional and interurban networks.

When cities are considered as settings in which tourism develops, this complexity is inextricably melded into the nature and structure of urban tourism, giving it

characteristics which set it apart from other, particularly resort-based, forms of tourism in

coastal or alpine environments (Pearce 2001). Urban tourism refers not merely to tourist

activities that occur in cities for many activities, with few modifications, could equally

occur in other spatial settings. However, the combination of multiple activities and a

complex setting is specific to urban tourism. Thus, urban tourism is both a particular sort

of tourism as well as an integral, traditional and proper part of urban life. If this is so,

then a profitable line of enquiry would acknowledge that different sorts of cities nurture

different sorts of tourism.

To sum up the above discussion, the key elements in defining urban tourism in a way

that can facilitate holistic understanding could be as follows:

¾ In cities, tourism is but one function among many with visitors sharing and/or

competing with residents and other users for many services, spaces, and amenities.

¾ A city may have multiple and overlapping tourism roles: as a gateway, staging

post, destination, and tourist source (Pearce 1981).

19 ¾ It is a service encounter and experience which has a high degree of customer

involvement; simultaneous supply and demand components; inconsistent demand,

which varies seasonally (but usually not as much as in coastal or mountain

resorts); and the consumption of an intangible product (Page 1995).

2.2 State of Knowledge

2.2.1 Worldwide

Forty years ago, on the basis of research conducted in Europe, Christaller (1964) asserted that tourism would avoid urban areas and that tourists would leave urban centres to recreate in the periphery. However, this is only a partial truth. Nevertheless, as if to support Christaller’s observation through neglect, urban tourism received only limited attention until the late 1980s, though most tourists originate from cities and, arguably, the majority choose urban areas as travel destinations (Ashworth, 1989; Law, 1993). Even the enormous quantity of literature produced by the related disciplines of urban geography, urban planning and urban development neglected the tourism function of cities.

The situation changed slowly (Judd and Collins, 1979; Buckley and Witt, 1985, 1989;

Vetter, 1985). The past decade has seen increased attention being devoted throughout the world to urban tourism from both tourism researchers and urban studies specialists, from

Europe (Cazes and Potier 1996, 1998 in Pearce 2001; van den Berg et al. 1995) to North

America (Judd and Fainstein 1999; O’Neill 1998), and from Africa (Marks 1996) to Asia

(Teo and Huang 1995; Chang and Yeoh 1999). Recent urban tourism research has improved our understanding of marketing the city (Ashworth & Voogd 1990; Kotler et al.

1993), urban tourism management (van den Berg et al. 1995), urban tourism policy and

20 planning (Law 1993; Tyler et al. 1998; Pearce 1998), impacts of tourism in cities (Parlett

et al. 1995) and quality matters (Murphy 1997).

Wide-ranging globalization has both given rise to and reflected changing trends in

travel, with the emergence of a “new tourism” (Poon 1989, 1990; Mowforth and Munt

1998) and “post-tourists” (Urry 1990, 1995). The important tenet here is the focus on

touristic “differentiation” and increasing segmentation of the tourism market, with

emphasis given to visitor fulfillment and self-enlightenment (Chang and Huang 2004).

Urry’s (1990, 1995) notion of the “tourist gaze” implies the importance of local places

because touristic consumption (effective demand) is interpreted not only in the form of

actual purchases (of hotel rooms, souvenir goods, and the like), but also in the form of

visual consumption, which is influenced by media, marketers, and other mediators. The

re-emergence of the city as a tourist destination, including ostensibly “unattractive” and

“problematic” sites13, is thus partially explained as part of the sea-change in consumer

demand at a global level (Buckley and Witt 1985, 1989; Cameron 1991). Other authors, while not explicitly addressing the global-local nexus, extend the theme of changing global demands and local urban effects. The implications for cities are tremendous. Page

(1995) detailed the gentrification of urban quarters as cultural and arts districts in places like Manchester and Glasgow. Ashworth and Tunbridge’s (1990) work on the “tourist historic city” also highlights recognition of “new” urban forms emerging from, among other things, growing consumer interest in heritage, arts, museum visits, nostalgia and changing lifestyle. Whereas in the past the historic city and the tourist district may have been separate, increasingly the overlapping of space and urban functions reflects changing motivations and mindsets of consumers. As Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990)

21 maintained, the contemporary tourist is “multi-motivated” and tourist cities are becoming,

in turn “multi-functional” and “multi-dimensional”, and, by extension, “multi-sold”.

These observations apply to both the cities as a whole and to many of the facilities that

exist within them. Thus, for example, a museum may preserve artifacts, have an

educational role, entertain visitors, host special events, and sell replicas, thus offering

different experiences and attracting different visitors with different motivations at

different (or even the same) time.

While the sheer volume of studies now appearing contributes to the identification of

urban tourism as a distinctive field, the term is often used without question or justification (Pearce 2001), although some have sought to clarify the meaning of this concept (Ashworth 1992). Chang et al. (2004) criticized the increase in urban tourism research, particularly since the late 1980s, suggesting the lack of a distinctive structure or conceptual focus in what some have regarded as the “emerging field” of urban tourism.

Yet the growth of both academic and practical interest in urban tourism is tied to two real-world phenomena: escalating demands by tourists to experience urban historic sights and heritage cities, and the concerted efforts of policy-makers to focus on the role of tourism in revitalizing urban areas and economies (Pearce 2001).

Beyond questioning the existence and definition of a specifically “urban tourism” and

what it encompasses (cf. Ashworth 1992; Page 1995), recent work has highlighted the lack of a “coherent corpus of work, pursuing common goals and carrying out comparable

studies” (Pearce 2001), a result of poor synthesis of urban tourism materials within

theories of development, location, and spatial transformation (Hughes 1997). Hence,

22 while many conceptual and thematic clusters exist within the literature, they are usually researched and discussed in isolation from one another.

It is important for more work in urban tourism to go beyond simply examining the

critical role that wider global forces have in the development of local urban forms, but also to question explicitly how local urban landscapes and processes help to shape global tourist trends (Chang and Huang 2004). This would not only acknowledge the important role that local urban resources play in mediating the involvement and expressions of the growing global tourism industries, but also add to a better understanding of global-local interactions and their impacts at various geographical scales.

2.2.2 Site Specificity

The literature that does exist on urban tourism exhibits yet another imbalance, namely

a bias towards developed countries. Most studies on tourism in developing countries

converge on resort settings, remote attractions such as hill tribes, or so-called ‘ecotourism

sites’. Exceptions are Ashworth’s (1989) typology of urban hotel locations, De Bres’

(1994) model of urban tourism, Oppermann’s (1993) attention to capital cities and large

urban areas as the major tourist destinations, Ritter’s (1986) discussion of hotel location

in big cities, Weaver’s (1993) model of urban tourism in the Caribbean, and Suh and

Carter’s (2004) studies of visitor perceptions in Seoul. However, the existence of such

works does not undermine the observation that most urban research has been undertaken

in developed countries. Analyses of the applicability of western theories and of the process of urban tourism planning and decision making in a city or cities of developing countries are almost non-existent. China, though with its own specific characteristics, is not an exception to this observation.

23 In spite of unifying themes linking culture, heritage, pilgrimage and travel throughout

China’s long history (Sofield and Li 1998), the complexities of tourism development in

contemporary China have evolved in successive eras14. Without having been nurtured in

the Chinese cultural milieu, it is difficult for foreign visitors to enter Chinese places with

the same experiential understanding. The now widely accepted western form of tourism

development could only make sense with the initiation of China’s open door policy in

1978. However, since then it has almost automatically encompassed and pursued heritage

in all its manifestations, from built heritage to cultural festivals to traditional lifestyles.

Nevertheless, a distinctive history and culture have given China its own particular

tourism manifestations. Internal rather than external forces have been predominant in

this process15 (Sofield and Li 1998). Gateways and coastal areas, where the most vibrant

cities are located, present obvious strength over hinterland areas in attracting attentions

from both tourists and investors (Tisdell 2000). While “central tourism regions have a

choice to a certain extent about what segment of the tourism market to cater for, the

periphery has to develop the few segments that are attracted by their limited resources”

(Hohl and Tisdell, 1995).

Corresponding to the gradual realization of the economic potential of tourism and its

subsequent rapid development as a growth industry in China, most research has focused on the accompanying issues, such as the lack and then oversupply of hotels (Tisdell and

Wen, 1991b), difficulties in hotel management (Yu and Huat 1995), unmatched human resources (Bai and Pine 1996; Zhang and Wu 2004), service qualities (Li and Feng, 1997), regional economic disparity (Khan et al. 1993; West and Wong 1995) or inequality

(Barnard and Shenkar 1990; Fleisher and Chen 1997; Lee 1995), rapid economic growth

24 and tourism development potential (Wise 1993). Recent studies had a stronger emphasis

on theories and practices, including, for example, planning theories (Wu 2001), tourist

behavior (Xiao and Huang 2000; Lam and Hsu 2004), market analysis (Huimin et al.

2006), and tourism development in general (Lew et al. 2003). Nevertheless, there is little

specifically on urban tourism. The only exception having much to do with urban tourism

that the author has detected is a recent study of urbanscape as an attraction (Wang 2005).

2.3 Framing the Theme

2.3.1 Between the global and the local

Globalization, it has been argued, is a powerful force that annihilates space and

increases the mobility of capital, people, ideas and information on a universal scale

(Harvey 1989; Ohmae 1990). The production, distribution, and consumption of

commodities and services have benefited from the evisceration of space which has

speeded up many aspects of economic and cultural life. For the purpose of this paper,

these developments raise three important perspectives. The first concerns the efficacy of the work of sociologists like Giddens (1990), Sorkin (1992), and Zukin (1992) and geographers like Britton (1991) and Harvey (1989) who have maintained that time-space compression resulting from technology has had the effect of “rolling social life away from the fixities of tradition” (Giddens 1990:53), such that local social practices become overwhelmed by the power of capitalist relations of production. According to this perspective, as countries move toward a borderless global economy (Ohmae 1990), the process is seen to result in the universal, “hollowing out” (Featherstone and Lash 1995:4)

of societies to give rise to what Sorkin (1992) called “ageographical” cities without a

clear place identity. Fjellman’s (quoted in Hollinshead 1998:105–106) description of

25 globalization is even more scathing. He asserts that multinational companies such as

Disney use “entrepreneurial violence” to “routinely … rob individuals of their thinking

dignity … [and] obliterate ‘difference’ and … counterstories” in order to draw

humankind into a “web” of universalism. Therefore, tourism as a “hyperglobalizer” (Held,

McGrew, Goldblatt and Perraton 2000:327) is viewed as one of the most significant

modes of homogenizing the world.

The second perspective and counterargument comes from skeptics of globalization who say that local particularities, cultures, and identities always prevail because they exist as “geopolitical faultlines of modern civilizations” (Held et al 2000:327). Massey’s

(1984) work, for example, raised uniqueness and difference as important points of

analytic interest. Robins (1991) and Wood (1993) in fact argued that tourism is appropriated by locals and used symbolically to construct culture, tradition, and identity.

As such, globalization should not be seen as overbearing and all-encompassing but is, instead, always mediated by local factors, producing unique outcomes in different locations.

A third view which is process-based, prefers not to reify space (as global or local) and

instead suggests that space is “perpetually redefined, contested, and restructured”; thus

“changes in the geometry of social power” lead to “multiple relations of domination-

subordination and participation-exclusion” so that scale becomes intrinsic to

transformations in the social, political, and economic landscapes (Swyngedouw

1997:141–145). An analysis that puts the dynamics of socio-political power and the

socio-spatial choreography of power alliances squarely into the path of change is, in this

26 perspective, an effective screen and antidote to the uncritical acceptance of the universal

so-called effects of globalization.

How then is globalization to be understood? There is certainly increased

interconnectedness: an intensification of networks, flows, transactions, images, and ideas

that transcend and connect states and societies (Giddens 1990; Held et al 2000). It does

involve not only the geographical extension of events beyond traditional territorial

boundaries but, more important, the “functional integration” of “internationally

dispersed” economic, social, and political activities (Dicken 1998:5). One such activity is tourism.

2.3.2 Cities in globalization

If the last hundred years witnessed the national states as key actors in the political

interstate system of providing the dominant organizational form for cross-border flows,

the condition has changed dramatically since the 1980s as a result of privatization,

deregulation, the opening up of national economies to foreign firms, and the growing

participation of national economic actors in global markets (Sassen 2002). Among the

ascendance of other spatial units and scales are the sub-national, notably cities and

regions. A growing number of cities today play an increasingly important role in directly

linking their national economies with global circuits. As cross-border transactions of all

kinds grow, so do the networks binding particular configurations of cities (Yeung 2000;

Warf and Erickwson 1996 in Sassen 2002). This, in turn, contributes to the formation of

new geographies of centrality in which cities are the key articulators. In locating cities on

global circuits, Sassen (2002) positions the role of cities as containing the resources that

enable firms and markets to have global operations. The mobility of capital, which is not

27 place-bound, whether in the form of investments, trade, or overseas affiliates, needs to be managed, serviced, and coordinated. The drivers of the new economy are flows of information and knowledge that can locate anywhere but are concentrated in geographically dispersed metropolitan areas16 (Borja and Castells 1997). Furthermore,

states – place-bound institutional orders – have played an often crucial role in producing

regulatory environments that facilitate the implementation of cross-border operations for

national as well as foreign firms, investors, and markets (Sassen 2003). These

circumstances give rise to an enormous research agenda in that every particular national

or urban economy has its specific and inherited modes of absorbing change and linking up with current global circuits. Cities have typically been deeply embedded in the economies of their immediate region, indeed often reflecting the characteristics of the latter, and they still have these attributes. But as Borja and Castells (1997) observed, for contemporary cities, links with other global cities become more important than links to their immediate surroundings. In addition, the growing demand for services by firms in all industries make cities the preferred production sites for the services, whether at the global, national, or regional level. Hence, the increase in service intensity in the organization of all industries has had a significant growth effect on cities beginning in the

1980s in the North Atlantic and in the 1990s in Latin America and Asia. As a result, in cities, the formation of a new urban economic core of financial and service activities has appeared that comes to replace the older, typically manufacturing-oriented core. Some of these cities cater to regional or sub-national markets; others cater to national markets, and yet others cater to global markets. Seen analytically, globalization changes the scale and adds complexity to the patterns of urban growth (Sassen 2002).

28 Britton (1991) powerfully argued that tourism is a sophisticated production system

that explicitly markets and packages places and, therefore, is implicated in many of the

economic, political, and cultural issues of current concern to geographers. Among the

ongoing debated issues is the changing role of cities as places of consumption as well as

production17. In the postmodern metropolis, hierarchies of taste, or niche markets, have

increasingly replaced the mass consumption of goods, and places themselves are being

designed for consumption, particularly through the use of visual images and scripted

themes. The production of themes and all the symbolic imagery they entail has therefore

occurred in conjunction with a massive global restructuring (Paradis 2004). Thus, in spite

of such strategies as identifying a “unique selling point” or “city branding”, much of the

supply of tourism facilities is, for various reasons of economy of production and

customer preference, broadly homogeneous. Simultaneously, the city itself is not just a passive spatial arena where these events take place. It is inhabited, used and owned by local people. Although much early place promotion might be directed at attracting new exogenous investment or new customers, it quickly becomes apparent that the places

need to be “sold” in the first instance to their existing inhabitants and users. A local pride

or “civic consciousness” is seen as not only desirable in itself, but also as a precondition

for successful external marketing (Ashworth and Tunbridge 2004). Yet, our

understanding of the commodification processes that shape urban tourism remains

primitive (Debbage and Ioannides 2004).

As an active agent in the process of co-construction where the destination is

fashioned between different actors (Crang 2004), though it does not necessarily occur in

an equal or harmonious fashion, tourism is part of a reflexive process where all the actors

29 learn from experiences (good, bad, and indifferent). Thus, the industry adapts and

develops, tourists respond with changing tastes and preferences, and locals rework their

identities and strategies in changing conditions. Tourism, then, is not simply

“consuming” places but it is also a dynamic force creating them. An important aspect of

tourism management is the ability to juggle competing demands (such as global versus

local needs and interests) and come up with reconciliatory policies that will help to create

a “saleable tourism product” and an “environment for living and working” (Burtenshaw

et al. 1991; Murphy 1997).

To attract mobile capital, cities are trying every means to enhance their attractiveness.

In such “postmodern tourist cities” (Mullins 1991), characteristics include the

predominance of a service economy, a rise in consumption and a consumer class,

intensification of inter-city competition based on “image”, and local authorities taking on

a boosterist or entrepreneurial role 18 . The literature is rich with empirical cases

exemplifying urban tourism’s homogenizing force (Chang and Huang 2004), such as

“theme cities” in America (Sorkin 1992; Gottdiener 1997; Paradis 2004), festive urban

waterfronts (Goss 1996), and public entertainment space (Cybriwsky 1999). The city is thus a meeting ground for the interaction of global processes and local forces, and a variety of urban outcomes – ranging from the loss of local distinctiveness and identity as places become alike (Judd and Fainstain 1999), to a (re)assertion of local difference

(Chang et al. 1996) – it is argued, results from these interactions.

In recognizing that the meanings and identities of places are often the negotiated

results of the local with larger-scale forces (and vice versa), work in urban tourism can

contribute to keeping geographers’ attention on the fact that, despite the apparently all-

30 encompassing forces of globalization, geographical difference is not only expressed, but

“also matters”19 (Chang and Huang 2004), at all levels from the city to the national and

the global, and everywhere in between. Such an emphasis is necessary to dismantle prevalent systems of investigating tourist cities through neocolonial lenses (or

Eurocentric frameworks of analysis), and widespread acceptance of the assumption that

Western policies and practices are best for the development of the city as a tourist site (cf.

Chang et al. 1996).

2.3.3 Policy and Planning

In tourism, global/local dynamics have been researched from different perspectives.

Some studies generally adopt a more integrative approach and critique the idea that

tourism development in cities is dictated by the needs of tourists and global market forces

(Kearns and Philo 1993; Robins 1991). Tourism development is often viewed as a

manifestation of the “global-local nexus”, whereby outside forces that impinge on

societies from “top-down” interrelate with internal forces which emanate from “bottom

up” to create distinct urban forms (Chang, Milne, Fallon and Pohlmann 1996; Robins

1991). The state, as the planner and marketer of tourism in most cities, and the local

people, through their reactions toward tourists or the decisions made by planners, play a

crucial role in mediating the outcomes of global tourism (Chang 1999; Oakes 1998;

Wood 1993). Therefore, while the convergence of global trends is resulting in a

duplication of similar urban forms worldwide, such as waterfront zones and festival

marketplaces, local uniqueness is not necessarily sacrificed (Chang and Teo 2001; Teo and Yeoh 2001).

31 The massive growth of tourism, the involvement of governments, and the perceived

negative impacts of tourism in developing countries has helped to bring about an increase

of activity in tourism policy analysis especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with

the works of Matthews (1975, 1978, 1983; Matthews and Richter 1991) and Richter

(1980,1983, 1984, 1989) providing a seminal contribution to scholarship. Among other

things, interrelated processes in the globalization of economies, internationalization of

financial markets, massive growth of multinational corporations, economic restructuring,

environmental damage, and, most recently, terrorism have collectively sparked public

sector decisions and action with respect to tourism. Some institutions of the state in

developing and developed countries have been born out of specific tourism concerns, for

example with respect to national and regional tourism promotion (Pearce 1992).

Nevertheless, many agencies of the state have an interest in tourism although they are not

tourism-specific institutions20 (Hall 2000). In other words, there is need for a broadly-

based approach to understanding the regulatory framework for tourism. Multi-level

analysis of tourism policy has tended to be traditionally focused on tourism decision-

making in federal systems (Richter 1989; Jenkins 1997). However, tourism policy is

increasingly becoming related to broader government strategies with respect to trade and

promotion at both national and regional levels, while the significant role of sub-national

tourism authorities as actors in international relations is only just beginning to be

recognized (Hall 2000).

Policy-making is a political activity 21 , influenced by (and constitutive of) the economic and social characteristics of society, as well as by the formal structures of

government and other features of the political system (Hall and Jenkins 2004). The nature

32 of the policy-making process in any nation-state varies over space and time, and varies

among policy sectors or policy communities. Policy is therefore a consequence of the

political environment, values and ideologies, the distribution of power 22 , institutional

frameworks, and of the decision-making process (Simeon 1976). It is deemed a public

policy not by virtue of its impact on the public, but by virtue of its source (Pal 1992).

Therefore, the policy-making process is an interactive process without beginning or end

(Lindblom, 1980). Policy implementation is the extension of policy formulation. There is

no universally-accepted definition for policy or tourism policy. In this study, tourism

policy is defined as “whatever government chooses to do or not to do with respect to tourism” (Hall and Jenkins, 1995).

Planning can be seen as the process of deciding (Veal 1992). However, the tourism

planning process should go beyond this. It should aim to provide a resource for

democratic and informed decision making. According to Hall (1982) this is all planning

can legitimately do, and all it can pretend to do. Therefore, planning is only one part of an overall ‘planning – decision – action’ process. Further, various activities in that process may be difficult to isolate as the planning process and other activities involve such things as bargaining and negotiation, compromise, coercion, interests, values, choice, and, of course, politics (Hall and Jenkins 1995).

According to Sassen (2002), many of the so-called effects of globalization are

actually the outcome of explicit and highly developed government policies in each of the

countries and cities involved. Another major issue is the extent to which globalization

brings with it growing competition among cities or a division of functions at both the

global and regional scales. But, in none of the instances can the complex inter-city links

33 be reduced to a relation of competition. If the field of urban tourism is to progress, it must

begin to inquire into the nature of the changes in urban economies and governance that

tourism is part of (Tyler 1998). Page (1995: 3) considered it to be ‘apparent that major

gaps exist in our understanding of the processes contributing to tourism… and the way it

functions in different environments, particularly urban areas’. To become involved and

competent in the bigger picture, different cities take different measures for policy and

planning. Case studies chosen by Tyler et al. (1998) demonstrate that planning is more

than a technical process, and that, although urban areas may show a certain amount of

repetition of product types (heritage and cultural attractions, conference and convention

centres, festival shopping, and events) the planning processes undertaken to establish

these or other products are shaped by the social and political conditions of the particular

city or sub-city area rather than the nature of the product.

2.3.4 The development of MICE tourism

While the above discussion might lead one to come to the conclusion that tourism has

become an important strategy to activate urban development potentials under different

planning and policy orientations, the benefits of tourism have been tapped through its

connections with a variety of urban themes. In addition to the increase of attractions by

highlighting culture, heritage, hallmark events and festivals, and the use of tourism in

urban regeneration and image building, MICE tourism has become an increasingly

popular tourism and development tactic.

Since the early 1970s, there has been great expansion of the convention business as suggested by many indices and the International Journal of Hospitality Management

even devoted an entire issue to the subject (Fenich 1992). The number of convention

34 centres has experienced commensurate growth. It is exactly like the international arms

race said New York City Councilwoman Ruth Messinger and the problem is that most popular centres keep being replaced by new and bigger centres (Huntley 1986 p45). With

the degree of construction activity as noted, cities of all sizes are jumping on the

convention centre bandwagon and hoping to reap the rewards. Once associated primarily

with major cities, visions of economic renewal combined with civic pride have brought

convention facilities to cities of different sizes and functional mixes. While there is

widespread agreement among experts regarding the positive versus negative aspects of

convention centres, there is consensus on little else (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1 Pros and cons of convention centre development Pro Con High levels of delegate spending High development costs Increased employment High carrying costs Enhanced urban image High operations costs New facilities for use by city residents Losses on operations Redevelopment of blighted areas Infrastructure costs Secondary economic activity Opportunity costs Spin-off development in centre’s locale Loss of property taxes Improved fiscal health for municipality Continuing costs for police, firemen, etc. High debt service Source: After Fenich 1992.

In spite of the diversity of opinions regarding detailed aspects of MICE tourism, the conventions and meetings industry is rapidly emerging as one of the most important sectors not only within business travel but also in the whole tourism industry

(Oppermann 1998), especially when conferences and exhibitions are increasingly linking together and considered as one industry (Law 2002). According to a recently released

Brookings Institute report by Heywood Sanders, public capital spending on conference centres doubled over the past decade. Annual investments in these facilities grew from

$1.2 billion in 1993 to an average of $2.4 billion annually from 2001 to 2003 (Nelson,

35 2004). While it is expressed in the acronym of either MICE in Europe – meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions – or CEMI in the United States – conventions, expositions and meetings industry, conference centres are crucial to the attraction of the larger conventions and exhibitions, and their high-spending delegates to a destination who may have distant as well as local origins. It is usually assumed by the city authorities that any losses incurred by the convention centre are more than recuperated through the spending of the attendees throughout the city on accommodation, transportation, food and entertainment, resulting in incomes to local businesses and increased tax revenues

(Fenich 1992). Other reasons for the growing interest in MICE tourism are the

seasonality and exposure factors. While special events or hallmark events such as the

Olympic Games may bring a huge influx of visitors in a short period of time, conferences

and exhibitions provide for a more year-round demand and, especially, may be scheduled

during the off or shoulder seasons (Oppermann 1998). Further, this form of group

business exposes the city to many participants who may very well turn into repeat visitors,

or even investors, if they leave with a favourable impression.

However, as Listokin (1985) has pointed out, while the economic prize may be great,

so is the competition. Several factors have been seen as being important in the rise of a

convention city (Law 2002). An early interest and involvement in the industry gives the

city the benefit of initial advantage. A location in a part of the country where there are not

too many rivals is another advantage since major conferences tend to rotate around a

country. Other advantages include having an attractive physical environment, having a

range of visitor attractions, having good evening amenities and having good accessibility,

particularly via an airport. Not all of these may be necessary, but being strong in at least

36 some of these is important. Of course, image and quality management are necessary if a centre is to be sold successfully and its MICE tourism is to thrive (Peterson 1989). The preconditions are not ubiquitous. Yet, most cities and other destination types want more convention business even though they may not necessarily be well endowed with the competitive attributes. Convention centres continue to be built although it is a well recognized fact that many, if not the majority, are operating at a loss (Wiesendanger

1995). What role, if any, does globalization have in precipitating such circumstances?

It has been argued above that a growing number of cities are playing an increasingly important role in directly linking their national economies with global circuits. The production of the identities and the symbolic imagery that this entails has occurred at a time of and in conjunction with a massive global restructuring (Paradis 2004). Thus, in spite of such strategies as identifying a “unique selling point” or “city branding”, much of the supply of tourism facilities is, for various reasons of economy of production and customer preference, broadly homogeneous. Judd and Fainstein (1999:39) discussed the development of ‘tourist bubbles’, containing the ‘mayor’s trophy collection’, including

‘an atrium hotel, festival mall, convention centre (emphasis added), restored historic neighbourhood, domed stadium, aquarium, new office towers, and redeveloped waterfront’. Such a version of urban tourism has spread as cities have learned from each other. Although this may threaten to erode the uniqueness of urban destinations and also devalue the urban tourism experience in a process similar to that operating in overdeveloped coastal resorts, most cities are endeavoring to have all of the basic elements in order to be recognized as “world cities” linked to the global, national or even regional circuits. A convention centre, whether established as part of urban regeneration,

37 image building, branding awareness or a tourist attraction in itself, is clearly endowed with multiple functions catering to a diverse and changing clientele. Only those cities

with a full complement of facilities and a strong image can compete successfully for the

largest international events. This explains why cities such as Las Vegas have become

among the largest convention destinations, and why places like Barcelona, Bilbao and

Sydney have risen rapidly in popularity in recent years. It explains why cities such as

Atlanta and Birmingham have learned that they need to broaden their appeal and that

convention facilities alone are not enough to be successful in a highly competitive

marketplace (Law 2002). In spite of the diverse themes that exist in studies of urban

tourism, in reality they are usually not discrete but are closely intertwined. The

development of facilities and services, together with the accompanying promotion of a

strong, distinctive image, and the growth in place marketing in general, have become a

crucial dimension of intercity competition (Pearce, 2001).

Tourism, which operates at a variety of scales, is highlighted in this paper as

providing a good example of the struggles that emanate from the interaction of global,

local and other scales. So far as the situation of China is concerned, MICE tourism

development is understood as being tourism activities that are initiated by meetings,

exhibitions, museums, culture, sports, and scientific and technological communications.

It is characterized by clienteles with high consumption, long stays and large group sizes,

resulting in good profits and strong industrial interactions (Ma et al. 2002). The

cumulative and radiative effects of conventions and exhibitions are expected to contribute

to the development of tourism, enriching its contents and products, diversifying the

markets, increasing employment, contributing to new economic growth and related

38 industrial development, and improving the communication among personnel of information as well as scientific technology. However, as will be reveal in the following case study, even in such a city as Dalian where MICE tourism was initiated

comparatively early, these intentions have not been fully met, and the connections and

full cooperation among various sectors are still lacking. Under the leadership of the

municipal authorities, The City of Dalian was an early adopter of MICE tourism in the

Chinese context as the country began to adopt a market economy and become

increasingly open to the outside world. Using the Dalian Convention Centre, itself an

attraction, as the focus of a case study, this thesis will show how tensions in the power

relations originating from the global and the local have played out. It highlights the role

of the state in pushing Dalian forward as a global city, as well as the role that tourism has

played in fulfilling this objective.

2.3.5 Players in MICE tourism

According to Oppermann and Chon (1997), one can envisage the MICE market as a

system with three main players: the organizing association, the host location, and the

potential attendees (Figure 2.2). As early as the mid-1980s, Var, Cesario and Mauser

(1985) recognized the existence of these three actors and suggested that a common purpose of both associations and host location is maximization of the number of

delegates. These two players are placed side by side in Figure 2.2 and the

interrelationships among the three main actors are indicated. Some of these relationships

among associations, host locations, and potential attendees are tangible or measurable,

while others are intangible or implied and very difficult to measure. They are indicated

by solid and dotted lines in the diagram.

39 To be effective, all actors, major and minor, have to work together. Besides the three

main players, there are several others, such as MICE facilities (although these could

perhaps be seen as part of the host location from the point of view of associations). A

study by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) revealed, for example, that exhibition facilities were only ranked 8th of 15 (on a par with “climate” but below

factors such as “accessibility” and “city image”) by delegates and have a minor influence

on participants’ decision process (Oppermann 1995). However, they are likely to be

much more important to the Association as well as to the success of the event.

promotion

food & beverage ASSOCIATION facility rental Host Location location image no. of attendants provides forum for professional exchange and social potential future interactions visits + expend. association with registration location fee image

enjoyment of location expenditure on opportunity to accommodation see new place food & beverages local transportation & miscellaneous

participatin g MEMBERS + Families ATTENDEES

promotion of location Promotion of non-participating convention and MEMBERS location Measurable benefits Implied benefits

40 Figure 2.2 Interrelationships among the main players in MICE tourism Source: After Oppermann and Chon 1997

However, the players that are mentioned in the model are not the only stakeholders.

In spite of the logical links among the actors mentioned above and their coordinated

effects, the model (Figure 2.2) has obviously ignored a critical player, the role of

government, which is very important in China (as the case of Dalian reveals). In Britain,

also, in the 1980s the government made large-scale investments into MICE facilities

(Spiller and Ladkin 2000). As Lawson (2000) indicated, the biggest challenge that the

MICE industry may encounter in the upcoming 10 years or longer may be the retention of

growth and investment. The development of national policies on business tourism and

MICE industries is likely to be an effective mechanism for them to develop with more

assurance and profitability in the future.

2.4 Summary

Early studies of urban geography concluded that “a fundamental trait of both town

and city23 in all ages has been that they are institutional centres (commercial, cultural,

and administrative) for their surrounding territory” (Dickinson 1967). Cities, as central

places, have historically been centres around which the economies, polities, and societies

of the surrounding region are organized (Sassen 2002). Centrality (see Sassen 2002 for a

details) remains a key feature of today’s global economy, but there is no longer a

straightforward relationship between centrality and such geographic entities as the

downtown or the central business district (CBD) (Scott 2001).With the multi-functional characteristics that are desired by multi-motivated visitors, cities have played and will still play important roles in the playing out of global-local relationships. Although the details of the process are likely to vary from place to place, an understanding of how a

41 city and its various stakeholders have negotiated and manipulated these relationships at a variety of scales would certainly be a useful contribution to debate on the globalization and the role of such activities as tourism in it..

Under the global-local nexus, some people think the state is not important or

increasingly irrelevant (e.g. Mann 1997) 24 , and some (e.g. Keil 1998) argue that

globalization has changed the nature of the state rather than emaciated its role. The

precise form that it takes, of course, will depend upon the interplay of political forces that

impinge upon it. It follows that it will be useful to move the discussion on planning for urban tourism away from merely describing a tourism planning process as a series of rational and prescriptive steps25 (Gunn 1994; Inskeep 1991; Getz 2001) to consider how

the political, social and cultural processes of cities affect the way in which real-life

decisions are made about the future of tourism. A social-political approach to policy and

planning could enhance understanding of the decision-making and implementation

processes and reveal how an urban tourism product (whether locally acceptable or not) is

actually developed.

42 Chapter 3 Research Approach and Methods

While Patton’s (1997) comparative analysis of qualitative and quantitative methods

reveals their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of evaluation purpose, he attaches more significance to an appropriate use of an ideal-typical qualitative methods strategy

(2002), which is composed of three parts: qualitative data, an holistic-inductive design of naturalistic inquiry, and content or case analysis. Given the task of this study (analyses of decision-making processes), the approach of the research (case study) and the research question raised (typically qualitative), it has been decided that the use of qualitative methods, with certain quantitative approaches as supplements, will constitute an appropriate strategy.

In keeping with an holistic approach, the proposed research will also utilize multiple methods – namely case studies, open-ended questions, and structured or semi-structured

interviews. Recent research involving qualitative methods “has sought a more sensitive

understanding of how people assign meaning to various aspects of life and how decisions

follow from this” (Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts 2000: 52). The use of interpretative

qualitative approaches, such as open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews,

has also been suggested as being valuable methods to gain insight into the complexities

of tourism (Dann 1988; Echtner and Ritchie 1991; Jamal and Hollinshead 2001).

3.1 The Case Study Approach

A case study is appropriate for this research because it allows for an in-depth,

multifaceted investigation on a single social phenomenon (Feagin et al., 1991, p. 2). It further allows for the employment of detailed, varied, and extensive information,

including that from documents, oral histories, and interviews (Neuman, 2000; Yin, 1984).

43 In contrast to longitudinal research that examines features on many units, case studies

examine comprehensively many features of a few cases over time. The researcher uses

the logic of analytic induction, considering the context of a case and examining how its parts are configured (Neuman, 2000).

Whereas the case study approach has, on one hand, been criticized for providing little

basis for generalization and for researchers’ lack of rigour (see Yin, 1984, pp. 21-22),

strong arguments have been made on the other hand that the approach ought to be a major

methodological tool in social science inquiry (Feagin et al., 1991; Sjoberg, Williams,

Vaughan and Sjoberg, 1991). The recognition that all aspects of social life are

interconnected, and that often one cannot be adequately understood without consideration

of the others, favours the case study approach and its potential to incorporate the use of

varied techniques in order to achieve breadth of both content and data acquisition and

analytical methods (Berg, 1998). Dalian was one of the first cities in China to practice an

open policy and economic reforms. It has experienced the typical process of urban

development in China, and witnessed the whole process of the encounter between

national orientation in policy and planning under steadily increasing international

involvements. Also, many local initiatives have been taken to link the city with global

chains and to make Dalian into an international city. Such initiatives have included the

development of several high technology industrial parks, the enhancement of

environmental quality, and the rapid development and promotion of tourism. In addition,

as a resident of this city, it is also a convenient place in which to conduct the

investigation.

44 With in tourism, much capital has been spent to enhance natural attractions, to build human-made attractions and to complement these with infrastructure, such as a wide variety of accommodations. All of these cater to local users and others who visit the city from a distance. Many of them have been developed in line with national government policies but reflect the particular local circumstances. For example, many hotels are under state ownership but a diversity of ownership and management arrangements exist including the involvement of international chains. The proposed research will focus on urban facilities which have a connection to tourism but are not solely tourism service providers. Another example of such facilities is convention centres. These facilities, in providing the locations for meetings and exhibitions, draw upon a diverse clientele, both global and local, from a wide variety of economic sectors. As such, they provide an appropriate focus for this investigation which will examine the roles that are expected of them by different stakeholders as revealed in the decision-making process. Considering that China’s urban development over the past five decades has been the direct outcome of national political strategizing, state articulation and reconfiguration, and shifts in global capital accumulation (Lin 2002), analysis at the provincial and national level is inevitable, though the focus of the research will be on the city level.

3.2 Data Collection

A critical analysis of relevant municipal documents was undertaken concurrent with and subsequent to interviewing, which was the main data collection method employed in this study. Key informants from the City of Dalian were interviewed. The information collected from the document analysis and staff interviews was then compared to achieve

45 a comprehensive and consistent perspective on the decision-making process. The results

of the analyses of the collected data are found in Chapter Five.

To begin with, three sets of municipal documents were reviewed and relevant

information abstracted: 1) Dalian’s official plans, entitled Dalian City Master Plan (each

one available, from the earliest for the 1950s to the latest for the 2020s) and the Dalian

Tourism Master Plan (such as the latest one finished in 2005); 2) the completed policy

documents for urban constructions; and 3) the selective surveys and statistics of the city,

upon which the Dalian Master Tourism Plan in 2005 was based. Following assessment of

the city level documents, a review of policies and planning regulations at national and

provincial levels related to cities in China, especially those with similar geographical,

social, economic and cultural conditions to the study site, was undertaken. These were

obtained, where possible, in libraries, archives or through official websites (such as

www.dalian.gov.cn for Dalian Municipality, www.cjj.dl.gov.cn for Dalian Urban

Construction Administration, www.gtzj.dl.gov.cn for Dalian Planning and Land

Resources Bureau, www.cnta.gov.cn for Tour China, and www.dl.yahtour.com for

Dalian Tourism Bureau). These document reviews were undertaken in search of

references to the involvement of stakeholders both in the development of the conference

center, and throughout the urban tourism development process. In addition to the

documents mentioned above, municipal meeting minutes, media reports, and various

other materials related to the decision-making process of the theme in question were consulted in order to enhance the information base.

With regard to interviews, a sequential sample of 22 municipal staff and urban facility

developers, especially convention centre development participants, was selected upon the

46 advice of contacts at the municipal government. Sequential sampling, akin to purposive

sampling, uses the judgment of an expert to identify a sample with a specific purpose in

mind (Neuman, 2000). In this case, it was desirable to contact informants who were aware of, and who were involved in, the convention centre development. From there, the snowball sampling method was enacted – chiefly among convention centre planning participants – to reach an interconnected network of people (Neuman, 2000). The theoretical sampling strategy (Taylor & Bogdan, 1984) was used as a guide for determining the number of informants, where the importance was not the actual number of interviews conducted, but the potential of interviews to yield results. As such, interviews were sought only until a saturation point in information was reached and no new information was being gained (Lee, 2002).

Sixty-one interviews were conducted in Dalian City Proper between July and

September 2006 – thirty-two in person and twenty-nine over the telephone. Among all

the interviews, 41 were with convention centre development participants, who had mostly

been involved in the development and operation of the convention centre since the very

beginning and mostly occupied positions with major responsibilities. In fact, it is largely

the same group of people that is responsible for the planning and development of other

urban facilities in the city. This can be inferred from Figure 5.4 in the detailed discussion

of the situation in Dalian and which describes the decision-making process for the

development of an urban facility in Dalian. The length of interviews ranged from 30 to 90

minutes. Interviews were tape recorded with the permission of participants and transcribed for analysis. To confirm or verify some points during data evaluation and the

47 thesis writing in October, another 15 interviews were carried out, including interviews

with the citizens around Xinghai Bay, where the convention centre is located.

Municipal key informants were comprised of planners (present director, 2 ex-

directors and 2 research fellows from Dalian Urban Planning and Research Institute; 2 deputy directors and 1 section head from Dalian Planning Bureau; 2 senior planners from

Dalian Construction Bureau), community resource people (5 committee heads and 5 citizens who represent communities around Xinghai Bay), and officials, a number of whom were political appointments as facility managers (1 deputy mayor of Dalian City, director of Xinghai Convention and Exhibition Centre, director of Dalian International

Expo Plaza, director of Dalian Tourism Bureau, director of Dalian Municipal

Government Office, and 2 section heads from the Municipal Government). A number of other related officials were interviewed, including members of the Provincial and

Municipal Bureaus of Tourism, Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection, and Municipal and Township officials. The interviews provided an in-depth understanding of urban facilities from a governmental perspective. In order to understand the decision-making process and the role of government, analyses were undertaken from two perspectives: national and regional. National perspectives were derived primarily from published documents and the internet. The provincial perspective has been omitted because Dalian is a special city in China with almost the same authority as a province.

The regional scale refers to the City of Dalian and the region under its jurisdiction.

Dalian Convention Centre development participant interviews (as well as those

related to other urban facilities) took place in participants’ offices, at City Hall, or in

public spaces such as Xinghai Square when certain festivals or events were going on (e.g.

48 Dalian International Beer and Acacia Festivals). Table 3.1 shows the breakdown of

interviews of Dalian City staff, including Dalian Convention Centre development participants (in fact, those involved in the convention centre development are generally the same group as involved in other urban facility developments).

Table 3.1 Interviews in Dalian Tourism Community Category Planners Officials Total managers resource people City staff 10 21 12 18 61 Convention centre participants 6 15 6 14 41

A semi-structured format was adopted for interviewing, as it could not be assumed that answers to a rigid interview schedule would yield all the information relevant to the study topic (Berg, 1998). (In-depth qualitative interviewing, where repeated face-to-face encounters are required to facilitate elaborate descriptions of experiences (Taylor &

Bogdan, 1984) was infeasible due to time constraints.) The semi-structured format that was adopted therefore consisted of selecting standardized, open-ended questions arranged for the purpose of taking each interviewee through the same sequence of topics (Patton,

1982). Interview guides differed slightly among the interviewees according to their positions and backgrounds though all addressed various aspects of urban facility and tourism development processes (see Tables 3.2 and 3.3 for interview guides). Scheduled and unscheduled probes were used to collect more elaborate responses from interviewees.

Flexibility and spontaneity were somewhat limited, but the systematic process reduced interviewer judgment and bias. Interviewing via the semi-structured method also facilitated analysis of the gathered information through the ability to locate respondents’ answers to the same question, as well as the ability to organize similar questions and answers (Patton, 1982).

49 As will be discussed in chapter 5, although a diversity of informants was interviewed,

the information gained from officials and politicians was largely similar. This might reflect a tendency to provide officially sanctioned responses. On the other hand, it may reflect the fact that the same group of people has been involved in the same decision- making process. In addition, given that government employees, particularly the most senior officials, play a dominant role in the whole process, most other people can not have much influence. The planners expressed some concerns about overdevelopment in the city proper, but essentially agreed with the development process, such as the construction around Xinghai Bay where limits on construction are strict so as to take the long term and overall urban development into consideration. While the community heads presented similar “official” attitudes to the bureaucrats, local citizens seemed to be unclear about the future of their living environment. Respondents generally expressed great civic pride but concerns were widely expressed about higher living costs and congestion associated with the increasing number of visitors. On the other hand, the community representatives were often indifferent to whether or not they were to be involved in the decision-making process regarding their own environment, believe that this is the responsibility of the government or other organizations who should shoulder the commitment.

Because of the high consistency in the responses that were obtained, the interview

data were not tabulated in the usual way. These data are presented in chapter 5 along with

data gleaned from government reports. The latter are referenced and the former are

attributed generally to interview responses because they usually reflect the statements of

multiple respondents.

50 Table 3.2 Interview guide for urban facilities, especially the convention centre participants and tourism managers A. Policy and Regulation

1. How does an urban facility come into being? What is the official procedure?

B. Process

Taking the convention centre as an example,

2. Who put forward the idea to build it? How did the process go (Who decided it)? Who provided the money?

3. Why was it built? † Contribute to the image of a business centre. † Contribute to the image of a tourism centre. † Contribute to the image of a business and tourism centre. † Part of a city revitalization programme. † Address seasonality concerns. † Others ______(clarify).

4. What was in the location before?

5. Was EIA assessment required?

6. Who have been the stakeholders? What have their roles been? Have these changed over time? How? (referring to the old one at Zhongshan Square, and the new ones at Xinghai Square)

7. Finally, could you comment on the relations between globalization and urban (tourism) development in Dalian? Do you think the convention centre is a product of the relation?

Table 3.3 General interview guide A. Policy

1) What is your understanding of municipal (with reference to national and provincial) policies as they relate to urban facility development? Have policies (e.g. City Plan) successfully identified and addressed the needs of local communities? Or have they failed? How?

B. Process

51 1) What was your role in the development of urban facilities, say the convention centre? What was the time span? How did you feel about your role? 2) What methods were used to encourage and maintain participation from neighbourhood residents? Were any strategies used to target particular groups? 3) What roles did neighbourhood groups play in the process of urban facility development? Were there any important local actor/organizations that stood out? 4) Within your knowledge, have there been any differences in the City’s approach to dealing with disagreements in the perspectives of stakeholders?

C. Product and Evaluation

1) What has changed in the urban landscape, physically, socially, etc.? 2) In your opinion, how successful has the urban facility development been, both in terms of the product and the process? 3) Do you think tourism is an effective tool for planning the image of the city? What are your criteria for success? How do you measure success? What suggestions do you have?

D. Other

1) What are the relationships between the various planning divisions/departments (city plans, tourism planning, central area)? What about other city departments? How closely do these departments work? What kind of communication takes place? 2) Is there anything else you want to tell me?

3.3 Justification of the Study Site

3.3.1 Tourism and cities in China

From the 1970s through the twenty-first century, much has transpired within China.

The changes owe much to the interaction of both global shifts and local reactions. China underwent a series of changes to its economic, political and social policies that radically restructured the basis of the nation’s life. The main thrust of these changes was toward a more market-driven and competitive society with fewer government subsidies and interventions into commercial ventures. Accompanying the restructuring that has

52 occurred has been a search for new economic opportunities for the cities. One avenue has

been provided by tourism. Since the “open door” policy and economic reforms that were

initiated in the late 1970s, tourism in China has experienced development in many ways:

from a commitment to receive visitors, to the development of related institutions, to the

present high levels of involvement, with 25 provinces, autonomous regions and cities

making it as “pillar”, pioneer and key industry (Wei 2002). Between 1980 and 1990, the

number of inbound international tourist arrivals to China increased by 4.8 times, with further growth of 2.7 times from 1991 to 2001(Figure 3.1). The foreign exchange generated was increased by 3.6 and 6.3 times in these periods respectively (CTSY, 1992-

2002). In spite of the downturn in 2003 due to SARS, both 2004 and 2005 witnessed two- digit growth rates of the preceding year in the receipts of foreign exchanges (47.87% and

13.82% respectively) (CNTA 2006).

Inbound tourist arrivals in China (1980-2005) (10,000 person-times)

15000

9791 12000 8901 10903 10000 8345 6375 7279 9166 5112 5759 4368 4639 3812 4153 5000 3169 3335 2692 2450 2746 1285 2282 948 1283 570 777 792 0 8081828384858687888990919293949596979899012345

Figure 3.1: Inbound tourist arrivals in China Source: China Tourism Statistics Yearbook, various versions

Domestic tourism has also increased in response to the overall economic development.

In the 20 years following the introduction of the open door policy, especially since the

1990s, with the development of national economy and the increase of people’s incomes and the number of public holidays, domestic tourism has developed rapidly (Table 3.4).

53

Table 3.4: Domestic tourism growth year Tourists (million) Increase (%) Revenue (billion ￥) Increase (%) % of the total revenue 1985 240 20.0 8 1990 280 16.7 17 13.3 1991 300 7.0 20 17.6 1992 330 10.0 25 25.0 1993 410 24.2 86.40 245.6 1994 524 27.8 02.35 18.5 61.84 1995 629 20.0 137.57 34.4 65.57 1996 639 1.6 163.84 19.1 65.87 1997 644 0.8 211.27 29.0 67.88 1998 694 7.8 239.12 13.2 69.50 1999 719 3.6 283.19 18.4 70.80 2000 744 3.5 317.55 12.1 70.27 2001 784 5.3 352.24 10.9 70.52 2002 878 12.0 387.80 10.1 69.67 2003 870 -0.9 344.20 -11.1 70.50 2004 110.2 26.6 471.10 36.9 68.87 2005 1212 10.0 528.6 12.2 68.77 Source: China Tourism Statistics Yearbook

Domestic tourism statistics include two components: urban and rural residents. So far as the number of travelers (including those working outside their permanent residence) is concerned, rural residents occupy more than half, although over 70% of the tourism revenue comes from urban residents, whose per capita consumption (739.7 RMB yuan) is

2.5 times that (209.1 RMB Yuan) of the rural travelers (Sample survey of domestic tourism in China, 2003). Tourism marketing concentrates upon mobilizing urban residents for sightseeing and travel during holiday periods.

In 2004, the overall tourism revenue in China reached 684 billion RMB Yuan, with a ratio of 31:69 between inbound and domestic tourism revenues (Figure 3.2). Among the

31 provinces and cities, Tibet topped the proportion of inbound tourism in the total tourism revenue with 40%, followed by Guangdong, Beijing and Fujian, each with more than 20%, 11 provinces and cities led by Shanghai with more than 10%, and the other 16

54 provinces had less than 10%. Liaoning province, in which Dalian is situated, had a

proportion of 10.16%. (CTSY 2005)

inbound tourism:domestic tourism 2004

inbound tourism 31%

domestic tourism 69%

Figure 3.2: Ratio between revenues generated by inbound and domestic tourisms in 2004 Source: CTSY 2005

The stimulus of international tourism, in particular, has resulted in the development of cities as important tourism destinations in China. Many cities have taken initiatives that are designed to capture an increasing proportion of this new economic activity. However, in the past 20 years, the scale of tourism development and the avenues adopted to capture tourism have not been the same in various Chinese cities, nor have been the social and economic effects. In 1982, only a few cities and regions were open to inbound visitors and cities, being the pioneers in the early stages of tourism development in China, occupied pivotal positions. For example, 41.37% of all inbound tourist arrivals came to three cities, Guanzhou, Beijing and Shanghai (Bao and Gan 2005), which were the leading touristm centres at the national level, forming the core of Chinese tourism in the aspects of tourist distribution, tourism organization and services. It can be concluded that the development of Chinese tourism and Chinese urban tourism have been closely related.

In analyzing the changes of 28 key cities in China between 1982 and 2001, Bao and

Gan (2005) discovered that given the common growth of inbound tourist arrivals in all of them, Dalian and Kunming witnessed the highest growth rate, 2,534% and 1,846%

55 respectively, which, along with Xiamen, also received the largest share of inbound

tourists (Table 3.5). These three cities were among those with the fastest tourism

development in the past 20 years. The prevailing drop in market shares of traditional

urban tourist destinations, such as Guilin, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Xi’an, Wuxi and

Luoyang reveals the challenges that they have encountered from newly emerging

destinations and scenic sites in the past years. It also implies that the system of Chinese

urban tourist destinations is experiencing diversified development.

In the past ten years, the boom of areas around ports of entry has replaced the

selective routes of the 1980s, including the famous one of Beijing – Xi’an – Shanghai –

Guilin – Guangzhou. Though the three entry cities (Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou)

are still top in inbound trips, Xi’an and Guilin have now been excluded from the top ten

choices (CTSY 1990 – 2004). The top ten cities in foreign exchange and inbound arrivals

are increasingly concentrated in three tourism economic circles, that is, those around

Bohai Sea centering on Beijing and Tianjing; the Changjiang Delta centering on

Shanghai; and the Zhujiang Delta centering on Guangzhou. The circle around the Bohai

Sea has experienced a gradual extension. In 1990, only Beijing was included in the top

ten cities, but then Tianjin entered in 1995, and Dalian joined in 2000 and Qingdao in

2003 (Table 3.6) (CTSY).

The alteration of the market share is derived not only from changing trends in tourist

demand but also from the changing competitiveness of the destinations and from

differences in regional economic development. So far as the inbound tourist flows of the top ten cities are concerned, comparisons confirm the strong promise of the development around the Bohai Sea (Table 3.7).

56 Table 3.5 Changing inbound tourist arrivals in 28 key tourist cities of China (1982-2001) City Tourists in % of the Tourists in % of the Changes of the % 1982 (10,000) national total 2001 (10,000) national total share Guangzhou 245 30.92 442.47 4.97 -25.95 Beijing 46.67 5.76 285.79 3.21 -2.55 Shanghai 37.12 4.68 204.26 2.29 -2.39 Zhuhai 20.22 2.55 109.91 1.23 -1.32 Guilin 18.1 2.28 93.26 1.05 -1.24 Hangzhou 16.2 2.04 81.94 0.92 -1.12 Nanjing 10.8 1.36 46.98 0.53 -0.83 Suzhou 11.3 1.43 63.5 0.71 -0.72 Shantou 5.62 0.71 21.21 0.24 -0.47 Xi’an 9.09 1.15 67.2 0.75 -0.39 Wuxi 6 0.76 34.56 0.39 -0.37 Luyang 2.26 0.29 10.64 0.12 -0.17 Fuzhou 3.9 0.49 31.88 0.36 -0.13 Huhhot 1.02 0.13 2.03 0.02 -0.11 Nanning 1.28 0.16 5.56 0.06 -0.10 Tianjin 4.26 0.54 42.14 0.47 -0.07 Datong 1 0.13 5.61 0.06 -0.07 Harbin 1.6 0.20 16.97 0.19 -0.01 Jinan 0.8 0.10 9.77 0.11 0.01 Quanzhou 4.26 0.54 49.08 0.55 0.01 Shenyang 1.29 0.16 16.1 0.18 0.02 Chengdu 2.9 0.37 34.51 0.39 0.02 Changsha 1.7 0.21 22.86 0.26 0.05 Wuhan 1.9 0.24 28.6 0.32 0.08 Chongqing 2.04 0.26 31.32 0.35 0.09 Xiamen 3.25 0.41 50.23 0.56 0.15 Kunming 3.2 0.40 59.08 0.66 0.26 Dalian 1.71 0.22 43.33 0.49 0.27 Total 463.49 54.49 1,910.8 21.47 Source: Zhang 1990; China Tourism Statistic Yearbook 1991-2002 Table 3.6 Comparison of the top ten Chinese cities in revenue and tourist flows (inbound) Rank 1990 1995 2000 2002 2003 Revenue Flow Revenue Flow Revenue Flow Revenue Flow Revenue Flow 1 - Beijing Beijing Beijing Beijing Beijing Beijing Beijing Shanghai Shanghai 2 - Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Beijing Beijing 3 - Guanzhou Shenzhen Guanzhou Guanzhou Guanzhou Guanzhou Guanzhou Guanzhou Guanzhou 4 - Xi’an Guanzhou Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen 5 - Guilin Zhuhai Xi’an Zhuhai Xi’an Zhuhai Xi’an Zhuhai Hangzhou 6 - Shenzhen Xiamen Gunming Xiamen Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou Suzhou 7 - Hangzhou Quanzhou Guilin Hangzhou Suzhou Xiamen Suzhou Tianjin Tianjin 8 - Suzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou Xi’an Xi’an Tianjin Guilin Nanjing Dalian 9 - Nanjing Xi’an Suzhou Quanzhou Guilin Dalian Tianjin Xiamen Nanjing 10 - Shantou Tianjin Tianjin Dalian Dalian Quanzhou Dalian Quanzhou Qingdao Source: CTSY

57 Table 3.7 Comparison of inbound tourist arrivals in the three key tourism economic regions (1990-2003) (unit: 10,000 people) Region 1990 1995 2000 2002 2003 Key cities around 41.8 84.3 169.5 209.4 171.6 Zhujiang Delta Key cities around 70.1 150.8 222.2 329.3 326.3 Changjiang Delta Key cities around Bohai 63.8 182.8 270.1 353.6 260.0 Sea Source: China Tourism Statistics Yearbook (1991-2004)

3.3.2 Changing Momentum

The changing position of urban tourism destinations in China in the past years has been outlined in section 3.3.1 and reflects the alteration of the comparative strengths of tourism attractiveness between cities. It is the change of comparative strength that causes a destination to rise as another falls. As the attributes of the structure of urban tourism developed by Jansen-Verbeke (1986) implies, generally speaking, the causes driving the development of urban tourism can be summarized as being composed of external and internal forces (Bao and Long 2005). The external forces impact the overall increase and structural changes in the demand. While the increase of the total demand decides, to a large degree, the trend of the overall growth of the city, the structural change is the key external element which leads to change in the urban tourism destination. With changes in population characteristics in the market areas and tourists’ desires, the structure of tourism demand is bound to change: some markets might decline while other niche markets might gain in volume.

The internal force is made up of such elements as resources, location, economy and others, which provide momentum for the development of urban tourism and are influenced by relevant internal decisions on urban tourism. With the changes in demand

58 structure or urban development policies, the leading causes for the urban tourism

development will also change and, thus, change the key attractions at the destination and

the comparative strength of a city (Figure 3.3).

Positional change of an urban tourism destination

Change in comparative strength

Change in demand structure Transformation of driving mechanism

Figure 3.3 The driving mechanism of urban tourism Source: Bao and Long 2005

changing travel purpose of inbound tourists 1998-2002

50 43.5 35.8 40 34.6

30 25.6 16.5 20 1998 8.6 8.6 10 3.1 4.0 4.0 3.0 0 2002 0 recreation holiday business VFR meetings communication

Figure 3.4 Changing travel purpose of inbound tourists to China Source: Sample surveys of inbound tourists- from Dalian Tourism Bureau

changing travel purpose of domestic tourists (1999-2003)

50 41.8 38.4

40 30.9 25.2 30 21.1 1999

20 12.6 2003 7.2 3.7 4.7 10 2.0 1.9 1.2 0 recreation holiday VFR business meeting communication

Figure 3.5 Changing travel purpose of domestic tourists in China Source: Data from Dalian Tourism Bureau 2006

59 So far as the demand structure is concerned, great changes have taken place in the

inbound visitors to China since the open door policy in 1978, that is, from recreation and

forefather-seeking tourism (or visiting friends and relatives) to recreation and tourism involving business, conventions, holidays and visiting friends and relatives. While

recreation is still one of the main motives of the inbound visitors to China, the demand

structure has changed a lot and diversified, with business and convention tourism

occupying an increasing market (Bao and Long 2005). Between 1996 and 2000, visitors

to China for business and conventions were 37% of the inbound visitors on average, only

3.26% less than those for recreation during the same period (CTSY, 1997-2001). Tourists going to conventions increased by more than two-fold from 1.9% in 1995, to 3.1% in

1998 and to 4.0% in 2002 (Figure 3.4).

As for domestic tourism, there have been substantial increases in recreation and holiday travel in the past five years, 10.9 and 8.5 percentage points respectively, rising from 43.5% in 1999 to 62.9% in 2003 (Data from Dalian Tourism Bureau 2006). In comparison, travels for business, meetings and various communications were proportionately reduced (Figure 3.5). However, this does not mean that they declined absolutely for the total number of tourists increased markedly.

The modification of the demand structure provides the external condition for the transformation of the urban tourism development. At the beginning of the “reform”

period (end of 1970s and 1980s), most inbound visitors were attracted to China to

experience the culture, for the appreciation of the splendid natural scenery, and the

enjoyment of family reunions. Urban tourism destinations which lacked the expected

60 resources, such as Dalian and Kunming, developed comparatively more slowly than such traditional destinations as Xi’an and Guilin (Zhang 1990) (Figure 3.6).

600 500 400 300 200

visitors (thousand) 100 0 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988

Dalian Xi'an Guilin Kunming

Figure 3.6: Inbound arrivals in Dalian, Xi’an, Guilin and Kunming between 1982 and 1988 Source: Zhang, 1990

With further practice of the open door policy, the mystery of China to outsiders is gradually declining. In addition, the unusual sudden growth of tourism development did not wait for a matching growth in service quality. On the other hand, while the world economy was partly in recession during the 1990s, China, with cheap labour, became one of the hotspots for foreign investment. These were conditions that were conducive to the rapid development of business, convention and exhibition tourism.

Under the general setting of tourism development in China, Dalian has also identified tourism as one of its main functions and has taken a series of policies and measures, as mentioned above. However, tourism development in Dalian presents a different trend from the general pattern in China (Figures 3.7 and 3.8). With inbound receipts as an example, while national receipts increased rapidly except in 1989 and 2003 (reflecting

Tiananmen Square and SARS), tourism in Dalian has had a different experience, that is, relative stagnation before the 1990s (only an increase of 36.1% from 1984 to 1990) and a

61 rapid increase after the 1990s (an average increasing rate of 21.8%, almost twice the national average of 11.4%) (Figure 3.9). In 2001, 433,000 inbound tourists were received, generating a revenue of US$304 billion, 65.7% and 58.5% of those in Liaoning Province respectively (CTSY). In the past three years, Dalian has been ranked fifth among the 20 key tourist cities of China in inbound receipts and total revenue generated.

Dalian China

50 40 30 20 10 0 -10

-20 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 annual increase (%) annual increase -30

Figure 3.7: Comparison of the inbound international arrivals between Dalian and China from 1991 to 2005 Source: China Tourism Statistics Yearbooks, various versions.

inbound:domestic tourism in China inbound:domestic tourism in Dalian (2004) (2004) inbound 31% inbound 17%

domestic 69% domestic 83%

Figure 3.8 Ratios of inbound to domestic tourism in China and Dalian Source: CTSY; DTSY A comparison between Dalian and Qingdao, another tourist city in China with similar external conditions (e.g. coastal cities, close to such tourist sources as Japan and Korea, similar climate, etc.), suggests that it is not very convincing to explain tourism development by means of external forces. As Figure 3.10 reveals, in the latter half of the

1990s, Dalian witnessed a faster increase of tourism than Qingdao (although the overall

62 trends shown in Figure 3.10 appear to be very similar). In order to interpret the situation,

the internal forces have to be examined.

inbound tourist arrivals in Dalian (1984-2005) (10,000 person-times) 70 60 60 43.3 52.0 50 49.1 33.8 40 26.0 37.3 30 20.6 16.2 20.5 20 13.1 9.3 10.9 11.9 26.0 5.3 5.4 7.3 10 2.8 4.9 3.9 5.2 0 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 0 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 3.9 Inbound tourist arrivals in Dalian Source: CTSY

Dalian Qingdao

80 70 60 50 als (10,000) 40 30 20 10 0

inbound arriv 5 6 98 9 0 1 03 4 5 199 199 1997 19 199 200 200 2002 20 200 200

Figure 3.10 Inbound Arrivals in Dalian and Qingdao between 1995 and 2005 Source: Yearbook of China Tourism Statistics, various versions

3.3.3 Case of Dalian

In 2003, the Communist Party of China and the State Council put forward the

important strategy to restore the old industrial base in the northeast of China and to speed

up readjustment and renovation. Special importance was attached to the leading role of

Dalian in the campaign and the target was clarified of building Dalian into an important

international shipping centre in Northeast Asia and a national base of equipment and

manufacturing industry, such as shipbuilding. While improving the strength of the port

63 city and its international competitiveness, the municipal government also targeted

tourism as a key strategy to stimulate fast growth, aiming at developing Dalian into an important tourist-distributing centre as well as a famous destination for tourism, recreation and holidays in its own right, for visitors from both home and abroad.

Correspondingly, a series of facilities, including the convention centre, museum, resort

attractions and the like, has come into being or is under construction or planned. These

facilities have been complemented by massive growth in hotel development. A master

tourism plan for the coming twenty years has also been prepared.

Dalian has witnessed the political vicissitudes of China. It was one of the first

Chinese cities to be opened to the outside world in 1984, having been a strategic colonial

port city, and a heavy industrial base of the new P.R. China. More recently, it has become

a famous domestic tourism resort and one of the 500 cities with the best environments in the world (according to the UN, cited in Dalian City Plan 2005). As mentioned above, in order to attract mobile capital, most cities in the world are trying to build on their attractiveness and put into place all of the “mayor’s trophy components”. In less than ten years, Dalian first identified MICE tourism as one stimulus of urban growth and successively set up two top class convention centres, which is rare in China. An examination and analysis of the decision-making processes regarding such facilities, and how they are seen to fit into the overall city planning and development schemes should be of practical significance to the development of the area. Given the paucity of such research generally, especially in developing countries including China, this study could also be of theoretical importance in illustrating how a large city has improved its environment and embraced the service sector as a means of stimulating and diversifying

64 its economy. Furthermore, given the multi-functional characteristics of many urban facilities, different stakeholders might have different expectations on the objectives for their establishment. An understanding of how and why various actors have been involved in the decision-making process and how the facilities contribute to tourism would enrich tourism research in the context of strategic urban planning and management, particularly at a time state when state control is gradually giving way to a market-oriented economy.

3.4 Summary

In order to tackle the questions put forward for this research, the author adopted a case study approach, drawing upon both primary and secondary data obtained through a number of data collection methods. The results will be analyzed and discussed in chapter five.

65 Chapter 4 A Tale of Urban Development in Dalian

The earliest city in China appeared around 1100 BC, the Shang Zhou period, as a tool

and symbol of the political power, with strict hierarchical systems embodied in the scale,

layout and the height of the walls of the city (Urban Development in China 2002). Since

the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under the impacts of both economic and political

elements, cities had started expansion outward with lots of farmers and peasants rushing

into the city to engage in handicraft industries and business. Cities functioned beyond

politics and military affairs. The economic function gained increasing attention. After the

Opium Wars (1840-1842, 1856-1860), the traditional Chinese cities, impacted, inspired

and pushed forward by western cultures, gradually were transformed with the following

features (Urban Development in China 2002):

z Industrial zones focusing on modern industries occupied large and medium cities

along the coast, rivers and northeast China, leading to the separation of producers

from the production sites, a change of the traditionally spatial combination of

handicraft industry, business and residences.

z Business streets and new style city centres with modern capitalist features

occurred in the city.

z Modern transportation improved the access to the city and made the urban

configuration more open and made distribution more flexible.

The historical evolution of the cities in China presents a dual process of outward

expansion and inward reorganization, with the size from small to large and the function

from simple to complex. Although Dalian can not be traced back to such a long in history, its urban development has witnessed a similar experience to that of most other Chinese

66 cities, which can be observed from the following review of its urban and tourism

development.

4.1 General Geography

Dalian

Figure 4.1 Dalian, China Source: www.google.com: map of china

Lying in the south of northeast China, Dalian comprises a peninsula that separates the Bohai Sea to the west and the Yellow (or East) Sea to the east (Figure 4.1). An indented coastline is made up of bays, coves, natural harbours, headlands and islands.

Being an erosion coast, its beaches are usually small, defined by headlands and outcrops,

and are generally made up of shingle or coarse sand. The erosion of the cliffs and

resulting indented topography make for an interesting landscape, in which beaches and

coves (and consequently holiday resorts) can be secluded and shielded from view. This is

in contrast with the wider expanses of sandy coastline found in neighbouring provinces,

Shandong for example, where deposits of sandy material have created more exposed, and

low-lying areas of vast sandy beaches or mudflats stretching for miles.

67

Figure 4.2 The city of Dalian Source: after Dalian Master Tourism Plan 2005

Dalian City is comprised more of mountains and hills with limited plains or lowlands.

The overall terrain is high and the peninsula is wide in the north, and low and narrow in the south, sloping towards the southeast to the Yellow Sea and northwest to the Bohai

Sea along the central axis of the peninsula. The ratio between mountain and plain is about

4:1, forming the saying of Dalian as “6 mountains, 1 water and 3 lands” (60% of mountain on one side, 30% of land in between and the sea surrounding the other three sides). This configuration shapes the continental monsoon climate giving it oceanic characteristics, typically with four seasons, a mild climate, warm and wet seasons occurring at the same time, concentrated rainfall and rich sunshine. However, the seasonal climate presents challenges for the tourism industry.

68 Lying at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, Dalian City covers an area of

13,538 km2, with the administrative areas of 6 districts, 3 cities and 1 county. There was a population of 6.1248 million by the end of 2005 (Dalian Statistic Bureau). At present, the spatial layout presents the following features:

1. Many small-scale and densely distributed towns: more than half of the towns are

concentrated along the Shenda (Shenyang-Dalian) highway, the Changda

(Changchun-Dalian) railway and the coast of the Yellow Sea, which provide

access to and focus upon Dalian city proper with the Shenda highway and the

Huanghai Dadao (the Yellow Sea Highway) as the developing axes. However,

some of the towns, compared with others in south China, are small with low

economic development level and poor infrastructure.

2. A variety of city functions: there are many types of cities, such as the central

cities at the provincial and local levels, or those focusing on industry, ports,

tourism, and trade.

3. An unbalanced city layout: with the overall productivity decrease from southwest

to northeast, the city distribution presents the same pattern. In the south are

economic development areas with more densely concentrated urban development

while in the north are small-scale sparsely distributed towns with poor economic

development.

4. The infrastructure needs to be improved: the overall land communication is in

good conditions and the roads are densely distributed. However, the road quality

has yet to be improved, especially those in the north.

69 According to the plan of 2000, the total population in 2010 will be 6.6 million and

6.95 million in 2020. The area under Dalian will have the following basic structure: one

centre (Dalian City), two axis (Changda railway, Shenda and Dadan highways), three

linkage points (Wafangdian, Pulandian and Zhuanghe) and, thus, a network of a central

and sub-central cities along with key towns (Figure 4.3). The land use and population

present the following patterns (Tables 4.1 and 4.2 ):

Table 4.1: Population scale of Dalian City (unit: thousand) City 2005 2010 2020 group Permanent Temporary Total Permanent Temporary Total Permanent Temporary Total Central city 1,730 340 2,070 1,800 400 2,200 1,850 500 2,350 New city 160 110 270 200 160 360 340 180 520 Jinzhou 240 80 320 270 110 380 340 130 470 city Lvshun 110 20 130 130 30 160 170 40 210 city Total 2,240 550 2,790 2,400 700 3,100 2,700 850 3,550 Source: Dalian Master Urban Plan 2000

Table 4.2: Land use of Dalian City City 2005 2010 2020 group Total (km2) Per capita (m2) Total (km2) Per capita (m2) Total (km2) Per capita (m2) Central 148.0 71.5 162.0 73.6 180.0 76.6 city New city 48.0 177.8 56.0 155.6 78.0 150.0 Jinzhou city 26.0 81.3 31.0 81.6 43.0 91.5 Lvshun 12.0 92.3 13.0 81.3 20.9 99.5 city Total 234.0 83.9 262.0 84.5 321.9 90.7 Source: Dalian Master Urban Plan 2000

The city area of Dalian is composed of the central city, new city, Jinzhou city and

Lvshun city. Each is comparatively independent from the other, separated by

infrastructure corridors and green barriers, forming groups of structures. The green

barriers between each consist of the forest park between the central city and Lvshun city,

Daheishan scenic area between the new city and Jinzhou city and the forest park under

construction between the central city and Jinzhou and new cities. The area to the north of

Zhenbeilu, south and east of the Shenda expressway and to the west of Daheishan is

70 designated as an infrastructure control belt, which means that projects with impacts on

the infrastructure are strictly controlled.

To Shenyang

To Zhuanghe Urban development structure

Urban Eco-Park

Jinzhou

New City Urban Forest Park

Main City Urban Forest Park

Lvshun

To Yantai

Figure 4.3 City structure of Dalian Source: Dalian Master Urban Plan 2000 Legend: for the use of urban area (yellow); landscaping barriors (green); city groups (red); and urban development axes (dotted pink).

4.2 Location and functions

Location in communications

Dalian has a good location for seaborne transportation: Dalian is the gateway to

Northeast China and the areas around the Bohai Sea, the nearest point for the ports along the coast of Bohai Sea and the Liaodong Peninsula going to the rest of the world.

Dalian has a good location for air transportation: As an important air transportation hub in Northeast China, Dalian Airport provides regular domestic and some international

71 flights. It takes less than two hours to fly from Dalian to Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo or

Pyongyang, which make it be worthy of the name of Northeast Asia Aviation Centre.

However, Dalian has limitations with respect to regional land transportation: the

geographical location confines Dalian into the end of Liaodong Peninsula which hampers

access by land, though the upgrading of land transportation has been improving the

situation.

Economic location

Figure 4.4 Economic location of Dalian Source: Map picture taken by the author, scale unavailable Lying at the intersection of Northeast Asia and the Bohai Sea circled area (Figure 4.4),

Dalian is one of the important core cities for the economy of the surrounding areas.

Future improvement in communications are planned which are expected to make the city

72 even more competitive economically and accelerate its merging into the critical regional

development around the Bohai and Yellow Seas, making it the head and meeting point of

the economic centres in the northern Bohai Sea Circle and Northeast Asia. It will also

become the international shipping and aviation hub of Northeast Asia, which includes the

northeast, north and northwest of China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Mongolia and the

far east of Russia, covering an area of near 17.28 million km2, with a population of about

680 million and making up 1/5 of the total world economy (Dalian Master Tourism Plan

2005).

Location in tourism

So far as tourist generating markets are concerned, Dalian occupies a pivotal location

in the region. To the east, Japan and Korea have close connections with Dalian in culture and are at a distance that is convenient for travel. To the south, the city clusters in the

Shandong Peninsula are potential tourist generating areas while those around the

Changjiang River Delta centering on Shanghai are the most important tourist generating and distribution area in China and an international tourist distribution region. To the west, the large city clusters around Beijing are also an extremely important tourist generating and distribution area in China and an international tourist distribution region. To the north, the three provinces in Northeast China are destinations that radiate out from Dalian for the tourists from Japan, Korea and Russia, and are also tourist generating areas for Dalian.

In short, from the present and future position of Dalian in communications, economy

and tourism, it can be assessed that the city is well placed competitively with a large tourism network bordered by Shenyang in the north, the city cluster of the Shandong

Peninsula in the south, Beijing and Tianjin in the west, and Japan and Korea in the east.

73 Thus, its position in the economic circle around the Bohai and Yellow Seas makes it within reach of a potentially huge tourist market.

Russia

NE China Japan and Dalian Korea City cluster around Beijing Cities in Shandong Peninsula

City cluster around Shanghai at Changjiang River Delta

Figure 4.5 Geographical location of Dalian in tourism Source: after Dalian Master Tourism Plan 2005

4.3 Spatial Evolution

The following contents are derived from three major sources (Urban Development in

China 2002; Dalian in the Past 100 Years, 1999; www.daliandaily.com.cn) plus the author’s accumulated knowledge from living and working in northern China.

Single Core Development Period

The earliest human inhabitation started in Dalian about 6000 years ago and Dalian area is endowed with good environment and unique landforms. Given the strategic

74 location, high priority was long given to military considerations and this slowed the

economic development. In the early Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), for the defense against the

inland threat, Jinzhou was built as a central city in the area, starting the urban history of

Dalian and leading eventually to the economic prosperity of the area.

Double Core Development Period

In 1878, the closed-door policy of the Qing Dynasty was undermined by outside

powers. As defense, the Qing Government set up the Northern Fleet with Lvshun as the

military harbour, starting the urban development of Lvshun, which was one of the

harbour projects with the world advanced technologies in the 1800s. The urban layout of

Dalian area then experienced economic development with two cores in Jinzhou and

Lvshun respectively, both essentially as defensive towns.

Multi-Core Development Period

In 1898, after their occupation of Lvshun and the Dalian area, Tsarist Russia built

Lvshun as the base of the Pacific Fleet and an admiralty port on one hand, and developed

free business ports along Dalian Bay to meet the requirements of world trade on the other.

At the end of the 1800s, the construction of Dalian Port started the recent history of

Dalian City development. By 1904, the built area had a population of more than 40,000 and covered an area of 4.25 km2 (Dalian Master City Plan 1986), and the port area

became the core of the main urban area of the city later, consisting of Jinzhou, Lvshun and Dalian, a pattern with multiple cores. Each group built up its own economy but in

close connection due to the limitations of transportation and functions. However, given

the convenient outward transportation, Dalian assumed increasing leadership in urban

economic functions and played a predominant role over Jinzhou and Lvshun.

75 Predominant Core and Multi-Centered Group Development Period

In the first 80 years of the 20th century, the urban development of Dalian had been

closely bound up with the vicissitude of the port, forming an urban layout focused on

Dalian City and complemented by Jinzhou and Lvshun. Since the 1980s, with the

implementation of the open-door policy and coastal development strategies, the first

economic development zone in Northeast China was granted to be built in Dalian, which

covered an area of 10 km2 in 1990 with matched infrastructure and public facilities

(Work Report from Dalian Municipal Government 2006). To avoid such urban problems as deterioration in environment and transportation in old city areas, Dalian put forward the strategy of going beyond the old city to develop new city areas. The present Dalian

City is composed of four city groups: the Main City District, the New City District, the

Jinzhou District and Lvshun District, a pattern of one core and multi-centered development (Figure 4.3).

4.4 Towards Urban Planning

To better understand the goals of urban planning in Dalian, it should be helpful to

review urban planning as it has occurred at different stages of development.

The contemporary urban layout of Dalian derived from the concession under Tsarist

Russia from1889 to 1904 and the Japanese occupation period between 1904 and 1945.

While Tsarist Russia planned and set up the essential morphology of the city, the

Japanese further expanded the scale. By the 1940s, Dalian had become a famous port city

and the population increased to 700,000 from 400,000 at the beginning of the century

(Dong 2005; Dalian Master City Plan 1986, 1990, 2000).

76

Figure 4.6 The evolution of Dalian (1:200,000) Source: taken by the author from the Dalian Master City Plan 1990 Legend: Tsar Russian planned city area (1898-1904) (grey); Japanese planned city area (1905-1945) (yellow); planned city area in 1979 (light violet); planned area for 2000 (1979 plan) (orange); planned area for 2020 (1990 plan) (light red); planned boundary of the city.

4.4.1 Concession under Tsarist Russia (1889-1904)

In March 1898, Tsarist Russia took control of Dalian and worked out the first master plan of the area in September 1899, starting the urban planning history of Dalian. The planned land use covered an area of 6.5 km2 and the city was designated as a port and

trade and business centre. With the focus on transportation and the layout, and planned in

a classical European style under the notion of strict functional zones, the city was divided into three districts: the Administrative District (the administrative centre of the whole city), the European District (for business and Russian residents) and the Chinese District

77 (for the Chinese residents) (Dong 2005; Dalian Master City Plan 1986, 1990, 2000).

Taking the geography of Dalian into consideration, the plan identified the construction of

the seaport and the railway as the leading strategy, making them major considerations in

the future urban development.

4.4.2 Occupation by the Japanese (1905-1945)

After their occupation of Lvshun and Dalian, the Japanese decided to make the area

into a “free harbour”. The 1909 master plan did not change what Tsarist Russia had done but worked out the details for adjustment and extension that were followed by Dalian

City Construction Plan. Rapid development of the urban economy led to more planning by the Japanese government, that is, the Urban Street Extension Plan in 1919, with the land use increased from 16.7 km2 to 35.6 km2. The plans during this period shaped the

rudiments of present Dalian. By 1930, with a population of 282,000, Dalian was

expecting a new urban plan, which was finished in 1934 and set the urban centre at

Chang Pan Bridge (the present Qing Niwa Bridge) with a radius of 16 km. It covered an

area of 516 km2, 195 km2 for urban land use, and was planned until 1976 for a population

of 1.22 million (Dalian Master City Plan 1986, 1990, 2000).

4.4.3 Planning after the Establishment of P.R. China (1949-2000)

Plan 1958 (Dalian Master City Plan 1986)

The first master plan for Dalian City worked out by P.R. China was accomplished in

1958 when the built city area was 700,000 km2 with a population of 800,000, and the

economic base was such heavy industries as machinery and chemicals, with

transportation provided by the seaport and railway. With a focus upon industries,

agriculture and national defense work, the plan of 1958 focused the city on industry,

78 aiming at an urban land use scale of 102 km2 and a population of 1.3 million. Ten industrial zones were planned along with the design of the road system, municipal facilities, landscaping, residences, health and hygiene, recuperation zone, business services and renovation of old areas. The plan was essentially reasonable with respect to development scale, distribution, land use indicators and functional zoning, except for the overemphasis on industrial development, with short-sighted land use allocations and unmatched infrastructure development. Furthermore, the Japanese had left little public access to Dalian Bay and this was not corrected. Later port development was the key impetus for the economy of Dalian which, unfortunately, was not realized by the plan.

Plan 1980s (Dalian Master City Plan 1986)

After the experience of Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), there was no plan to follow and disorderly development existed everywhere. In 1980, Dalian drew up a new master plan which was granted by the State Council in 1985. The city was planned until 2000 and was designated as a “port, industry and tourism” city with a land use scale of 118 km2 and a population of 1.4 million. With the focus on four central districts (Lvshun was planned independently), the plan confirmed the importance of the port, readjusted the industrial land use, forming 13 industrial zones, and stopped industrial projects in the older areas. In addition, to meet the requirements of the political reform, 3 km2 of foreign trade zone was planned at Ma Qiaozi Village of Jin County, the present Dalian

Development Zone of Economic Technology, for the introduction of foreign investment and the development of knowledge-intensive industries. Tourism development appeared in the urban master plan for the first time and scenic tourism zones were developed to strengthen environmental protection.

79 Plan 1980 was the first Dalian City Master Plan granted by the State Council. To

guarantee its implementation, a series of detailed sub-plans and local construction laws and regulations were put forward. The plan was timely and it contributed greatly to the city’s development in the following ten years and made it gradually stand out in the economic development of China. However, the plan underestimated the speed of development and the planned indicator of the urban scale for 2000 was exceeded in 1989.

Plan 1990 (Dalian Master City Plan 1990)

Given that the planned area in Plan 1980 had been exceeded, Dalian City developed

Revision of Dalian City Master Plan in 1990. Without making substantial changes to the

nature of the city, the plan put forward the long-term goal for urban development as “to

build an international city”. The revised contents mainly include limitation of the planned

urban area, a development target and structure, the system of cities and towns and

associated urban infrastructure, etc. It identified, for the first time, the urban structure of

Dalian City in large areas or belts, each with its own functions, so that the various

districts could be planned and developed. The idea of new urban districts was added to

the plan, with an urban development that involved the advance construction of important

infrastructures.

Plan 1990 was an adjustment and deepening of the one in 1980. Both plans guided the

urban development of Dalian City in the 20 years after the political reform of China,

setting up a sound foundation for the city to approach the target of being a modern

international city.

80 Plan 2000 (Dalian Master City Plan 2000)

From 1995, facing the coming 21st century and China’s entry into WTO, Dalian

Municipal Government took 5 years to work out the latest Dalian City Master Plan

(2000-2020). It aims at building Dalian into one of the regional centres for international

transportation, business and trade, tourism, finance and information technology along the

east coast of the Pacific, and making it an international tourism city which can play a

nodal role in the economic development of Northeast Asia.

The planned city covers an area of 2,415 km2, among which 450 km2 is for urban

construction and about 180 km2 for township construction. In a specific period, the urban

structure will develop in groups, that is, centre on the main city area, sub-centre on new

city area, with Jinzhou and Lvshunkou districts as sub-cities. The groups will be

separated by forest parks. With further development of Dalian City, the Bohai Sea to the

west and the Yellow Sea to the east will be two important development axes. The main

city district, new city district and Jinzhou district will form three central developed areas

with Lvshun and Dengshahe, the targeted development areas in the long run, becoming

satellite cities in the south and the north. The urban land use will be controlled at 530 km2 with a population of no more than 4 million.

The plan stresses the different functions of various urban nodes. The main city district is focused on administration, culture, science and technology, finance, information, business and trade, tourism, sports, education, conventions and exhibitions, and the development of hi-tech industries. The new district will coordinate the industrial land use of the Free Trade Zone, Dayao Bay Harbour, DD Port and Beiliang Port by improving the functions as a transportation hub, tourism, conventions, sports, culture, education,

81 business and trade. In this way it will become a diversified modern area based on the

processing industries near the port, as well as hi-tech industries, and supported by modern services. Lvshun district will have multiple functions, including tourism. Finally, Jinzhou district, being close to the Shen-Da (Shenyang and Dalian) highway and the Chang-Da

(Changchun and Dalian) railway, will have a border with a new city district, Jinshitan

National Tourism Resort and Mount Dahei Scenic Site. This will create the conditions for the northward extension of Dalian City by strengthening its function as a transportation hub, as well as tourism and industry.

In the environmental impact assessment for Dalian done by Tsinghua University,

suggestions for the adjustment and optimization and of the urban development were put

forward (Dalian Daily, Sep 15 2006). Future urban development will follow this EIA

report, further adjusting the land use to avoid the negative impacts on environmentally

sensitive areas, including farm land, drinking water sources, nature reserves and

water/land conservation zones. In addition, the city is endeavoring to be built into a

resourceful and environment-friendly society, focusing on the saving of land, water and

energy, the protection of natural shoreline, the reasonable layout of harbours and industrial shoreline, strict control of the scale of land reclamation from the sea, speeding recovery of coastal wetland, coordinated coastal tourism resource development, and the construction of northern green barriers for the conservation of water sources, and the environmental rehabilitation of the three cities that fall under Dalian’s jurisdiction in the north. Depending on the three main industries, petrochemicals, telecommunications and machinery manufacturing, and aiming at developing into a regional shipping centre by

82 2020, Dalian is planned to become the largest base in China for the intensive processing of petroleum and its products.

The urban planning history of Dalian embodies the development process of Chinese cities from simple to complex functions. With Dalian’s naturally endowed scenery and strategic position, tourism has obviously been gaining in importance, whether for the economic revitalization of the city or for environmental protection. It also stands out as being a newer departure from the city’s earlier focus on heavy industries.

4.5 Towards Tourism Planning

4.5.1 National policies and regulations on tourism

The development of tourism in China is a sensitive barometer of the progress of

China’s reforms since 1978. It indicates the extent to which China has opened up to the outside world, reduced controls on the movement of people in China and is permitting social interaction between travelers and locals. Meanwhile, development of China’s tourism industry mirrors changing official views in the country about the type of industrial policies needed to maintain China’s economic growth. An indication of the evolution of the national tourism administration and policies implemented (Zhang et al.

2002) would be helpful to the understanding of the process:

1949-1978: focusing on foreign affairs with government administration and

enterprises integrated together. There were not any special agencies for tourism

administration, nor was there a relevant department in the central government or

travel services at the local level.

On Oct. 18, 1949, the first travel services institution for overseas Chinese and

foreigners, rather than for Chinese at home was set up in Xiamen, Fujian Province,

83 followed by more travel companies in coastal cities from which most overseas

Chinese originated.

In 1954, China International Travel Service (CITS) was established to strengthen and extend personal exchanges with other socialist countries. According to the preferential policy then, foreign visitors organized by CITS could enjoy a 50 percent discount on railway and steamship fares and a 25 percent discount on airfares, both domestic and international (CNTA, 1995b). Special stores (called

Friendship Stores) were also set up in the cities open to foreigners, where they could buy quality goods at cheap prices with foreign currency.

In 1956, overseas Chinese travel services existed in another sixteen major cities including Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin, Hankow, Nanjing,

Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jinan, and Kunming. One year later, the Overseas

Chinese Travel Service headquarters was set up in Beijing to oversee all the travel services in the country, hence forming a nation-wide network of Overseas Chinese

Travel Services (CNTA, 1995b).

In 1970, the whole country had only 400 inbound foreign visitors, and foreign tour groups needed to be approved individually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or even by the premier or Mao himself.

The main task of developing tourism during this period, described in the Report on

Tourism Development prepared by the Foreign Affairs Leading Group of the CPC

Central Committee and approved by the CPC Central Committee in 1964, was to

“publicize achievements of socialist construction, expand external political

84 influence, promote mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and other

peoples of the world, and gain some foreign currency for the state” (CNTA, 1995b).

1978-1980: industrial operation, with government administration and enterprises

integrated together; tourism serves economic development, to earn more foreign

exchange. In 1978, the era of economic reform shifted the government focus from

political struggles to economic construction.

1981-1986: under united leadership, government administration separated from

enterprises. From 1978 to 1985, great efforts were made to develop inbound

tourism, and many discriminatory policies and travel barriers for overseas visitors

were removed incrementally. With the improvement of diplomatic relations with

other countries in the region, and improvement of tourist infrastructure through the

introduction of overseas capital and management, international tourist arrivals and

foreign revenue increased rapidly.

In 1982, China Travel and Tourism Administration was renamed as China National

Tourism Administration (CNTA) which, in July of the same year, started to work

independently from China General Travel Service (CGTS), becoming responsible

for the administration without being directly involved in operation or reception

tasks. Enterprise management was implemented in CGTS.

1986-1997: tourism serves to stimulate the national economy, gaining attention from

the central government and managed at different levels. The period was featured

by the transition of the management from administrative to industrial, from being

directly involved in enterprises to indirect regulation.

85 In 1986, the tourism industry was, for the first time ever, placed into the National

Plan for Social and Economic Development. Domestic tourism also gained

attention from the central government.

In 1992, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Decision on

Speeding up Development of the Tertiary Industry, which made it clear that tourism,

as a key component of the tertiary industry, should be stressed.

1997-the present: big tourism and small government; tourism serves to enhance quality

of life. In 1998, along with the real estate and information industries, tourism

industries were made as new growth points of the national economy at the

Economic Conference held by the CPC Central Committee. Great changes have

taken place in the functions of the CNTA, typically in three aspects: first, CNTA is

no longer in charge of the administration of tourism foreign exchange, quotas and

prices; second, institutional units were empowered to shoulder such work as

examinations for technical rankings and professional qualifications; and third, an

increase in the functions to develop various criteria, including those for different

types of scenic sites or spots, holiday resorts, tourist accommodation, travel

agencies, transportation, tourism projects, facilities and services, etc.

Since May 1995, the Chinese have practiced a five-day workweek and, since 2000,

they have enjoyed three week-long holidays, during spring, autumn and winter.

At the dawn of the new century, the CNTA released the Tenth Five-Year (2001-

2005) Plan for Tourism Development and the Programme for Long-Term Goals Up

to 2015 and 2020. According to this Programme, within the first twenty years of the

twenty-first century, tourism will become a major (“pillar”) industry in the national

86 economy, making an 11 percent contribution to the country’s GDP. The goal is also

for China to be one of the leading tourism countries in the world.

In 2003, premier Wen Jiabao and vice premier Wu Yi stressed the need to “develop

tourism as important pillar industries for the national economy of China” (Dalian

government work report 2005), indicating the high importance to and support for

tourism development accorded by the central government. So far, 25 provinces,

regions and cities have identified tourism as pillar, pioneer or key industries.

The implementation of Chinese tourism policies and regulations has provided both opportunities and difficulties to tourism enterprises in developing their business.

Opportunities:

Generally, all tourism enterprises indicated that economically-oriented tourism policies and regulations adopted since 1978 promoted the development of tourism in

China (implied from various government work reports and interviews with Dalian

Tourism Bureau and business owners in Dalian). These policies and regulations have created a positive and supportive business environment for the enterprises to start up and develop their tourism business. More specifically, the implemented tourism policies and regulations provided tourism enterprises with significant opportunities. First, the open and fair competitive environment holds the key to their investment decisions. These

Chinese tourism policies and regulations have established an effective legal framework for the administration, management, and operation of tourism enterprises. Of course, compared to developed countries, the legal framework for tourism in China is still far from mature and there is much room for further improvement. For example, the Tourism

Law of China, although it has come into its ninth version (interview of Dalian Tourism

87 Bureau), still has not entered into the formal legislation process of the National People’s

Congress (the highest authority in China). Second, tourism development in China is a

government-led development initiative, so the implemented tourism policies and

regulations drive Chinese tourism enterprises to new business opportunities. For example,

in the early 1980s, both international and domestic tourism exhibited strong growth, and

China had a serious shortage of tourism facilities, especially hotels. The “Five Together” policy allowed tourism administrations, individual government agencies, local governments, collectives, and individual persons to invest in the tourism industry. This allowed not only the number of hotels to increase sharply during a short period, but also allowed investors to make a considerable profit.

Difficulties:

Because most tourism policies and regulations are shaped by the tourism

administration, and tourism enterprises can rarely participate in the tourism policy-

making process, the latter have found difficulties in implementing certain policies and

regulations. Some regulations, such as the “Provisional Regulation on the Administration

of Travel Agencies” (implemented in 1995) and “Regulations on the Star Standard and

Star-Rating of Tourist Hotels of the PRC” (implemented in 1988) are too strict and do not

allow any flexibility for tourism enterprises to develop in accordance with their real

circumstances. The star-rating program, for example, provides a very detailed set of

standards for the hotels at each star level, which hotels must strictly adhere to. However, some standards are too rigid and too specific, even setting detailed requirements on minor

aspects of hotel facilities, such as the layout of rooms. Hotels are not allowed to change

88 based on the customers’ preferences. These standards, to some extent, have prevented hotels from further satisfying their customers.

4.5.2 Functional relations among different levels of administration

National tourism organizations Main Functions: develop national tourism industrial development policies and criteria; national and multi-regional tourism plans; assess five-star hotels, national tourism holiday resorts, national 5A tourism areas (spots)

Provincial tourism organizations Main Functions: develop provincial tourism industrial development policies; provincial and multi- urban tourism plans; assess four-star hotels, provincial tourism holiday resorts, provincial 4A and 3A tourism areas (spots)

Municipal tourism organizations Main Functions: implement policies and criteria developed by upper-level organizations; standardize local tourism market and guarantee tourist rights and interests; industrial management of local tourism enterprises; assess three-star hotels, national 2A and 1A tourism areas (spots)

County tourism organizations Main Functions: implement policies and criteria developed by upper-level organizations; standardize local tourism market and guarantee tourist rights and interests; industrial management of local tourism enterprises; accept applications from tourism enterprises for professional criteria. Figure 4.7 Functional relations among various administrative levels of tourism in China Source: summarized from available document by the author The tourism management system in China covers four levels, with the national and provincial tourism organizations mainly functioning in developing policies and professional criteria for tourism industries and those at the municipal and county levels responsible for the execution and implementation (Figure 4.7). The overall principles for the development of tourism around the country are similar, that is, tourism is only one economic and institutional sector, and its functions have evolved over time from an emphasis on contributing to the national and local economic growth in the late 1980s to the present target of the improvement of physical environment and living standard of the

89 destination residents. However, there is a long way to go for the latter objective to be

fully achieved.

4.5.3 Relationships between urban and tourism planning

Given the short history of tourism development in China, it should not be surprising

that tourism planning, especially that for cities, experiences many implementation

limitations. First of all, urban tourism plans are only one of the development programmes

in urban economic institutions, and they can only function within their own sectors.

However, tourism development involves and has impacts on an array of industries which,

in turn, play important roles in it. Unlike in other tourism destinations, in cities tourism-

related industries serve both tourists and the local residents. In the internal urban system,

like tourism, they are comparatively independent sub-systems. Accordingly, urban tourism planning can only provide requirements for the development of these related

industries from the perspective of tourism development, or work out the corresponding

parts in accordance with their development plans. Urban tourism planning can not control

the development and implementation of these related sectoral plans, nor can it command

the development of various elements that have impacts on urban tourism. Only when an

urban tourism plan gains supports from other planning departments and functions

together can it contribute effectively to the tourism development in a city.

Secondly, while spatial distribution is an essential aspect of urban tourism planning,

tourism land use is only one type of urban land use, the system of which is very

complicated. Urban land use is divided into 10 large, 46 medium and 73 small kinds,

each being clearly defined in location, range and developing methods with legal effects

(the Law of Land Management in P.R.China, 1998). Tourism land use is no exception.

90 Only urban plans with legal rights over land use can legally implement the spatial urban tourism distribution plan.

Thirdly, urban tourism development needs a pleasant environment, which is also one of the contents of the urban tourism plan. However, changes in the urban environment usually result from urban construction, which involves almost every aspect of a city and is beyond the control of urban tourism planning since it should follow the urban plan.

Only when the urban plan takes the requirements of urban tourism development into consideration can the urban construction and the environment be adapted to meet the requirements of tourism.

Fourthly, an urban tourism plan can only cover the policies and regulation systems within its own field. This means that urban tourism has to be supported by various aspects of the city in laws, regulations and management mechanisms in its development.

In short, urban tourism plans in China have considerable limitations. While the urban tourism development has much to do with the overall urban development, the planning of the former has to depend on the latter which is a more encompassing process. In addition, urban tourism planning could enrich the contents of the urban plan (the latter usually aims at the needs of residents while the former focuses more on those of the tourists), building on the formation of urban features and image, increasing urban environmental quality and contributing to the competitive competence of the city.

4.5.4 Tourism planning for Dalian

Corresponding to the national policy, tourism development in Dalian has passed through four temporal stages (document from and interviews with Dalian Tourism

Bureau):

91 • The commitment to the reception of inbound foreign tourist groups (1954-1978):

The milestone events were the establishment of the Dalian Branch of the National

Tourism Agency in 1954 and the beginning of the reception of overseas yachts

from Japan in 1976.

• The development of domestic tourism and tourism related to foreign countries

featuring the purchase of sea products (1978-1986): Domestic tourism increased

slowly after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the

Chinese Communist Party. Dalian Tourism Bureau was established in 1986.

• Rapid development of sea-bathing, appreciating the urban environment and

inbound tourism (1986-2005): Since around 1986, Dalian started urban

environmental regeneration on a large scale with many newly-built tourism

attractions. Inbound and domestic tourism increased at a high speed, creating

success for Dalian as a coastal tourist city.

• Destination construction resulting from further development of recreation and

holiday tourism (after 2005): After entering into the new century, the tourism

market increased throughout China but, with this, came increased competition.

Tourism in Dalian is now expecting upgrading, institutional reform, product

renovation and development, and the achievement of advanced international

standards.

Compared with the initiatives of urban planning, tourism planning in Dalian, as in any other Chinese cities, was not listed into the official agenda until very recently. The available documents recorded the earliest official tourism plan for Dalian as being included in the Urban Master Plan 1982, which worked out details to address issues

92 occurring due to the increasing tourist arrivals, that is, the number of places to visit (Most

places around Dalian Bay had been occupied by ports, railway, industries and storehouses

except for the southern coast, some of which was occupied by factories or the military);

lack of hotel beds and facilities (According to 1980 statistics, the average monthly use

rate of hotel beds was 77%. Given the strong seasonality of tourism in Dalian, there was a

serious shortage during the high season between April and October, when more than

13,000 tourists came but there were less than 10,000 beds); few flights (With a short

runway and limited headroom, there were only small planes and direct flights to

Shenyang and Beijing); and a shortage of service facilities (Rapid tourism development

went far beyond the capacity of service levels at various scenic sites, with very few restaurants and stores within reach). It is worth noting that the plan was based on June and September 1981 statistics, according to which, in addition to endless national summer camps and various visiting or reconnaissance groups at the midseason, Dalian received many meetings (82 at the national level with 7,017 participants, and 113 at the provincial level with 5,447 people present). It is evident that even when adequate

matching facilities were not in place, Dalian had long been attracting “business” travel!

When summing up prospects for tourism in the Urban Master Plan 2000, business and

meetings were identified as the most fundamental and prominent segments for tourism

development and were positioned as economic opportunities to be stimulated. In Plan

1990, the ambitious goal of building an international city was established with the

principle of gradual development, focusing on the central area along the southern coast,

strengthening the two sides of the city in Lvshun and Golden Pebble Beach (Jinshitan),

and taking into consideration of the northern scenic sites.

93 The strategic position and natural resources keep the attention of the governments at various levels and various stakeholders on Dalian, leading to development opportunities.

However, without formal laws on tourism, there have been a variety of plans for sub- regions and scenic sites (document review at Dalian Tourism Bureau by the author), which have made some more comprehensive plans difficult to implement.

4.5.5 Summary

A review of the urban and tourism planning history of Dalian, along with the policy orientation at the national level, indicated that from the very beginning of the urban development, Dalian has been linked with outside forces, from the defense against inland threats to the establishment of an advanced fleet competing internationally. The long history as a port city has been associated with international links and influences extending well beyond its own area. Even the wars and the Russian and Japanese incursions linked it with world powers and, to some extent, fostered a global perspective.

Another point induced from the review is that tourism development did not gain the attention of the Chinese authorities until the open door policy and economic reform in

1978. Again, as can be revealed in the national policies and tourism experience in Dalian, the advent of tourism was featured with the commitment to attract international visitors, though Dalian’s popularity is particularly evident in the rapidly expanding trend in domestic mass tourism in the last two decades.

Coastlines are a scarce environmental setting that requires particularly sensitive planning and management. In large countries such as China, with huge inland populations, the appeal of the sea is likely to be very great, particularly for people who have yet to

94 experience holidays on the coast and whose increasing mobility and ability to afford

vacations create a significant demand for coastal tourism.

In spite of its long stress on industrial and port functions, Dalian has an attractive

environment shaped in part through various urban development strategies including

tourism. Urban revitalization started early in the 1980s and this laid the foundation in

environment and infrastructure to a considerable degree for the further ambitious goal of

building an international city (see the following chapter for details).

The development of Dalian has been under the control of the governments at various

levels. This is inevitable given the administrative mechanisms of China. The national

authority has been predominant in the decision-making process of what, where and how to position the city, and this has been the case from the very beginning of the development of urban and tourism plans since 1978 or even earlier. The discussion in the following chapter will reflect this. At the same time, Dalian is in the special position of being a sub-provincial level city, which gives it greater powers than most other cities. It was also one of the first in China to practice economic and political reforms. In addition, the strong and creative leadership of the municipal government has also distinguished it from most other Chinese cities. It is evident that over time, more players have become involved in development in Dalian, particularly representatives of the domestic and international private sector. However, given the closed decision-making process that has been commonly adopted, their changing roles are difficult to determine and assess.

95 Chapter 5 Discussion and Implications

5.1 Introduction

This chapter will examine the main themes identified in the literature related to the decision-making process for the development of urban tourism facilities, including the links between tourism and other urban functions and planning. The three guiding questions which were posed in chapter one will be revisited as they relate to the empirical data and the literature:

• What are the goals and objectives that tourism development in the city is meant to

achieve? What do they mean concerning the overall development of the city?

• Who have been the stakeholders, what have their roles been, and how have these

changed over time? Who are the emerging key players within the process of

decision making? Is planning sufficiently flexible to respond to change

successfully?

• Were the facilities (such as the convention centres) built as part of the overall

urban development strategies? (Why were they built, whose idea was it, who

decided, what stakeholders were involved, who provided the money, what was the

decision-making process like, what was in the locations before, was EIA

assessment required, were they seen as contributing to the image as a business or

tourism centre or both, were they seen as being part of a city revitalization

program, were they seen as addressing seasonality concerns....?)

To better understand the context of the answers to these questions, aspects of the planning history and urban tourism development in Dalian were discussed, followed by the analysis of MICE development in the city (The latter two were only discussed

96 superficially to illustrate the globalization trend). The ideas behind postmodern thought

were introduced in Chapter 2 as a context within which to examine the role that tourism

has played in urban development. Since postmodernists emphasize the importance of the

media and communication to current day society (Kumar 1997; Lyotard 1984), MICE

tourism was explored throughout this dissertation as a form of communication which many cities choose to utilize.

5.2 Reflection on the planning history

As implied in the above summary of the planning history of Dalian, the whole

process, whether it was under foreign control or Chinese sovereignty, has been informed

by the situational conditions and determined mainly by the government in power.

Between 1898 and 1905, Tsarist Russia built a strategic naval base and a deep water

ice-free civil port in the south of Liaodong Peninsula (Dalian in the Past 100 Years 1999).

Under their design and construction, Dalian became a modern city of European style,

including high-rise buildings, broad streets and big squares. The Tsarist Russian plan

revealed obvious colonial characteristics. Even if the Chinese people had been ten times

the number of Russians, the planned land for their use was only about one quarter of that

for the Russians and was far from the central city with poor terrain and access to

transportation. Without any essential internal planning, the Chinese district was simply

separated from the Russian area. The Tsarist Russian plan could not accommodate the

necessary transportation requirements of the automobile at a later time. However, there

was much in its planning notions that were positive: a) reasonable distribution of the

shore line - harbours were designated at deep water zones while the shallow water zone

near residential areas left for public use; b) comprehensive terrain utilization – the

97 mountains were cut to fill and compress the beach for the construction of the harbour;

rivers were dammed for water sources; trees were planted on low-lying or flood land for

parks and landscaping belts; c) road landscaping – the main highways were to face scenic buildings, the sea or mountains and landscaping belts were left on both sides which not only beautified the city but also kept room for future extension; d) infrastructure development – comprehensive arrangement of water sources, dams and drainage, sites chosen for power stations.

During the occupation by the Japanese from 1905 to 1945, Dalian was further

developed based on the urban planning by the Tsarist Russians and became a strategic

fort for the Japanese to implement their aggressive policies (Dalian Master Urban Plan

1986). In all their plans, military and economic considerations prioritized any other

developments. For example, harbours and factories were built along Dalian Bay; public

access to the shoreline was removed; environment quality was ignored and much public

green space eliminated; reclamation of the sea led to many low-lying areas and thus the

threat of waterlogging. Uncontrolled sewage discharge resulted in the pollution of Dalian

Bay, some of which even now can not be resolved.

In 1945, the Russian army took control of Dalian again until 1955 when Mao Zedong

was the first president of China. Until 1980, city development had been stagnant except

for industrial construction and a few residential buildings (Dalian in the Past 100 Years

1999). Although the urban framework left from the first half of the 20th century had an

entirely new appearance due to the out-of-control population growth and irrational land

utilization, it was not destroyed in essence. With the implementation of the open door

policy in the 1980s, like most other cities in China, Dalian experienced unprecedented

98 and uninformed modification under the rapid economic development. However, Dalian is different from other Chinese cities in that, in the early 1990s, under the then mayor Bo

Xilai, now the Minister of Commerce in China, it focused on its unique historical features and developed a regional economy by making full use of its strengths, typically embodied by two parts (Dong 2005): one was the large-scale development and utilization of the attractive zones between densely wooded hills and the sea; the other was administration of the historical sites and the prudent adjustment of their functions.

Another implication that transpired from the planning history is that, in spite of the short history of tourism development in Dalian, tourism planning had gained timely attention by the municipal government early in the first master urban plan after the “open door” policy in 1980s, when the city was positioned as a city with a port, industry and tourism, and sub-planning for tourism was undertaken. In 1990, the theme in the former plan was maintained, and in 2000 the city functions as a hub for transportation, tourism and industry was stressed. The municipal government was forward-looking in its decision-making in identify meetings and conventions as providing the momentum for a new round of urban tourism development, and as a unique “selling point” of the city in the face of increasingly intensive competition.

In summary, since the invasion of Russia, Dalian has experienced a history of more than 100 years and rapid development from a small village to a regional metropolis. The trend has been especially prominent in the past ten years. The municipal government has practiced “building the best rather than the largest city” as their principles for urban construction. Concerning the intention of not trying to be the “largest”, the city aims at the following considerations (Dalian Municiple Work Report 2005): first of all, to control

99 size and upgrade quality. It is well known that Dalian has serious shortages of land, fresh

water and ground water. The urban water demand has to be met by pipeline delivery from

reservoirs 175 km away (Dalian Urban Master Plan 2000). All these natural constraints

mean that the city has to control the scale of development by following a sustainable

development strategy by regulating urban layout, stressing the construction of

infrastructure, improve the form of the city and increase the balance among the various

competence of the city.

A second aim is to control the size and to improve the social capital of the population.

By the end of 2004, Dalian has had a population of 6.01 million, with 5.616 million with

hukou (officially registered) and 2.6 million in the city proper (www.dlrk.dl.gov.cn). In order to regenerate the old city, many factories in the central area have been displaced to the suburbs to facilitate landscaping and road enhancement, so as to build a garden city.

The population in the central area is strictly controlled, so as to increase people’s quality

of life and to attract discerning people, from both home and abroad, to work in Dalian in

the improved environment (Dalian Municiple Work Report 2005; interview results).

The third aim is to control the scale of infrastructure construction and increase the

economic benefits of industrial development. Infrastructure construction will be

controlled in the old city area and the features of a coastal city will be stressed according

to the terrain by widening the roads, building squares and recreational green lands on the

reclaimed areas after tearing down old houses. With a growing commitment to the market

economy, all state-owned enterprises will be merged, reorganized, bankrupted, renovated

and exposed to the market (Dalian Municiple Work Report 2005).

100 The notion of “building the best” will be embodied in the following ways (Dalian

Municiple Work Report 2005; interview results): first, there will have to be better urban

plans with loftier goals and new thinking, which are more broadly circulated and publicized. Practically and realistically, the municipal government arranges about 150

projects every year in their budget, most of which involve the construction of urban

infrastructure. All have to be approved by the mayor office, reflecting the centralized and

comprehensive planning. Second, infrastructure needs to be improved. In addition to

promoting water saving and controlled ground water exploitation, several large reservoirs

are being built in the peripheral areas, with a daily water supply of 1.2 million tons per

day. Almost all (99%) of the population is using gas as fuel. There are more than 60 bus

lines, 2,500 buses, 10,000 taxis. Motor cycles and boilers under 10-ton capacity are

strictly limited (www.cce365.com). Good urban infrastructure has attracted many mobile

merchants and investors. Third, the urban environment has to continue to be enhanced.

Great emphasis must be put on the renovation of roads, gateways, business streets and

residential communities. And finally, there has to be better urban management. This will

involve more integrated thinking and the breaking down of the current “silo” approach to

decision making.

5.3 Driving Mechanism As interpreted in the discussion of the changing momentum in part 3.3.2, the different

urban development pattern of Dalian from the general pattern in China makes it essential

to look into its internal driving mechanisms. The significance of this can be illustrated

through a comparison of the two cities mentioned earlier, Qingdao and Dalian, which are

two large coastal cities in northern China. In the 1800s, they successively came under the

occupation of Germany, Russia and Japan, which marked them with a European style in

101 their urban culture and buildings (Urban Development in China 2002). They were the

earliest coastal cities to be opened to the outside world when China started its “open

door” policies. They became important national bases of machinery, chemicals, textiles,

ships and steel manufacture, and key ports in northern China. With a similar population

of about 2.6 million in the city proper, both cities have gained wide attention for their

rapid economic development since 1978, and both identified tourism as one of their

growth points (Dalian in the Past 100 Years 1999; Urban Development in China 2002;

Qingdao Government Website).

In spite of the various similarities, their development patterns are very different.

Qingdao is obviously supported by its manufacturing industries, such as refrigerators,

televisions, sports shoes and beer, which have become well-known national brands,

occupying a large share in the national market and involved in the competition of the

world market. On the contrary, Dalian, deeply rooted in heavy industries, typically ship

building and machine tools, gave high priority to environmental improvement and gained

its reputation by means of clean environment, landscaping, special events and soccer,

which have attracted a huge amount of investment. As early as 1984, Qingdao

municipality adopted a “branding” strategy of, giving great support to the establishment

of technical centres for enterprises (Qingdao Government Website, traced in August

2006). As a survey by the Scientific Commission of Qingdao (2000) reveals, taking

Qingdao Beer as an example, among the 1.07 million tons of total products sold, the

brand products made up 440,000 tons. If each ton of beer needs 1,544 bottles, 2,783 pop-

tops and 129 cartons, the brand beer in Qingdao will need over 400 million glass bottles,

200 million pop-tops and 46 million cartons, which, in addition to matched lids and

102 covers, will need more than 900 million RMB Yuan at the wholesale price. This is a great

contribution to the development of dozens of glass, carton, printing and aluminum

processing industries. Furthermore, 340,000 tons of Qingdao beer is sold to other parts

of China or for export, which would need 11,266 compartments at 60 tons by train, or

80,000 cars/time. Along with its multiplier effects on employment and local business,

restaurants and tourism, Qingdao beer contributed at least 2.5 billion RMB Yuan

annually to the economy.

In comparison, the development of Dalian depends more on the introduction of

investment. According to the Compendium on the Planning of Big Dalian Development,

the industrial development in Dalian will follow a pattern of “131”, that is, the leadership

of high technology, the backbone of petrochemicals, electronic information and

mechanical manufacturing, and the advancement of modern services (China Tourism,

May 7 2003). So far as service is concerned, the focus will be on contemporary business,

logistics, financial insurance, housing assets, conference and exhibition tourism, information consultation, etc. (Dalian Municipal Work Report 2005) In order to upgrade

the environmental quality of the city, starting in 1995, the municipality has taken 6 years

to relocate industrial enterprises with heavy pollution, high energy consumption and poor

efficiencies. By 2001, 115 enterprises had been displaced, leaving 3 million ㎡ of area in

the city for the development of squares, green lands and other selective construction. In 8

years, more than 230 street gardens were set up and newly created public green land

reaching 13 million ㎡, 8.5 ㎡ per capita (Liu 2002). Land becomes the “second finance”.

In 1993, Xinghai Bay was a derelict beach and a refuse dump with a land value at 1,000

103 RMB Yuan/㎡. After two years’ reclamation and the improvement of the environment

and infrastructure, it increased to above 10,000 RMB Yuan/㎡ (interview).

Many tourists are fascinated by the large-scale modern recreational facilities in

Dalian. In early and mid 1990s, Dalian established its urban environmental brand through

the development of infrastructure on a large scale (Interview results). Given the

increasing competition between cities for tourism attractions, Dalian has encountered the

same challenge of getting funds for the implementation of various plans. In 1997, the

municipality identified tourism as the backbone industry for the economic development

of the city, putting forward a series of policies to attract investment from home and

abroad (Data from Dalian Municipal Government). In addition to promoting the principle

of “those who invest benefit”, the municipality sets aside 15 million RMB Yuan every

year as a development fund for tourism projects. It is estimated that by 2004, a total of

13.3 billion RMB Yuan had been invested in 50 tourism projects, among which 78%

were invested by non-state-owned and foreign enterprises (Economy Daily, March 16

2004).

International events, such as festivals of beer, fashion and acacia plants, and fame as a

soccer city have enabled Dalian to become known widely. At the fashion festival of 2000,

the volume of business reached 5.6 billion RMB Yuan (Dalian Government Website). A

large number of people came to know Dalian through various festivals and business activities and eventually settled there. In 1997, Dalian was identified as a “Demonstration

City in Environmental Protection” by both governments in Japan and China, leading to

the introduction of projects worth of US$100 million (Dalian Government Website).

Environmental improvement also aroused the development of related industries. In 1999,

104 about 200 enterprises and institutions in Dalian had fixed asset of near 1 billion RMB

Yuan and produced a profit of 100 million RMB Yuan in addition to the occurrence of

array of new industries, including technical service, consultation, facility operation,

landscaping, gardening and comprehensive resource utilization and natural ecological conservation, etc. By 2000, there were 8,000 foreign invested enterprises, valued at

US$15.93 billion according to contracts, among which 3,600 are in production with an

annual operating revenue of 32.88 billion RMB Yuan and 1.91 billion turned over to the state (Dalian Government Website). By the end of 2001, the whole city had accumulatively made use of 11,121 projects under foreign capital, with a contracted foreign capital of US$22.93 billion and US$13.47 billion put into application, making it become one of the cities with the most concentrated foreign investment in China (Yang

2001). At present, 40 billion RMB Yuan is being invested in developing Dalian into “An

International Shipping Centre in Northeast Asia” (21st Century Economic Report, March

21 2005).

Based on the investigation of the tourism development in Dalian and the studies of

related policies and documents (Dalian Municipal Statistics Bureau 1999-2005; Han et al

2001; Zhong 2002; Kong and Ma 2000; Yang 2001), according to the momentum model

for Dalian tourism development by Bao and Long (2005) (Figure 5.1), it can be concluded that the internal driving mechanism for Dalian tourism development has evolved and continues to change over time with external environmental changes.

As figure 5.1 reveals, at the beginning, what made Dalian shake off the stagnation in

the 1980s was the positive feedback mechanism centering on environmental construction.

This can be considered as the start-up mechanism, in which the land area under

105 government control expanded increasingly by means of environmental construction. On

the other hand, the improvement of the environmental quality induced increases in land

values added to the government revenue, and thus the further enhancement of the urban

environment. At the same time, the quality environment becomes an important appeal to

tourists, whose increasing arrivals make the government revenue rise even further.

Research of tourist perceptions on the overall urban image of Dalian (Gu and Guo 2001)

has shown that the beautiful environment became the primary element to attract tourists

(table 5.1). There is probably stronger evidence in Mi Xiaojia’s thesis (2003).

Displacement Landscaping Control & management Upper limit of land + Regional + + environment + Environmental Quality of + improvement + + government staff + Urban function + Environment + Land area quality + Quality of + residents + + Land price Government - + image + + Urban pride & Government + reputation revenue + + + + + + Other urban image Input of funds/talents - ++ + - + + Visitors + + Urban image/brand + + + + Economic growth Natural & + + historical MICE landscape of + Dalian - MICE in other cities Figure 5.1 Model of driving mechanism for Dalian urban tourism development Source: After Bao and Long 2005

106 Table 5.1 Tourist perceptions on the overall urban image of Dalian Item Clean & Sea & Fashion Soccer Lawn Holiday Bo Sea Total beautiful beach festival tourism Xilai* product # of 25 21 17 16 14 10 10 8 35 people Percentage 71.43 60.00 48.58 45.72 40.00 28.58 28.58 22.85 -- (%) * Mayor of Dalian between 1993 and 1999 Source: Gu and Guo 2001 in Bao and Long 2005 But later, with growing pressure on the supply of land and the large investment into

environmental development and maintenance, the starting mechanism declined in

effectiveness over time, eventually led to the negative feedback spiral of environmental improvement – increased pressures on government revenue – reduced resources for environmental improvement. However, the environmental enhancement has resulted in

improvement in people’s living quality and standards along with increased civic pride

and enhancement of the overall urban image, thus attracting more tourists and investment.

The increase in tourist arrivals has, in turn, contributed to the growth of the economy and

government revenue (Interview results). What was, and is and possibly will be, playing a

dominant role in the positive feedback mechanism is the urban image and branding,

which can be regarded as the dominant driving mechanism.

With the urban beautification being increasingly emphasized throughout the country, the comparative advantage of Dalian that was established through environmental qualities is declining. To keep the development impetus, given the increasing proportion of business and conference visitors among the inbound tourist arrivals, the existing improved infrastructure and the promise of MICE tourism are helping in the urban functional transition and in the upgrading of urban attractiveness and competitiveness.

Dalian has turned to another positive feedback mechanism, that is, the meetings and exhibitions function, which can be seen as a quasi-startup mechanism. It can be seen from

107 the diagram that many feedback loops are common and various feedbacks all play their

roles at different times though to different degrees and directions.

As is revealed in the planning evolution, Dalian used to be a city focusing on heavy

industries, leading to serious environmental problems. Things were made worse by the

construction principle of making use of every bit of space which exacerbated the original

congested situation (Dong 2005). These became primary constraints for urban tourism

development. The “environmental revolution” launched by the municipal government in

the early 1990s, by means of such projects as landscaping, administrative initiatives and

displacement of polluting industries, has not only increased the financial revenue of the

government but also become the key to attracting tourists and to drive the development of

tourism in the city. With the improvement of the infrastructure, residential quality and

living standards have been upgraded which, in addition to the beautiful environment,

have nurtured people’s sentiments and enhanced the environmental and cultural capital of

the residents, thus increasing the working efficiency of government and enhancing the

image of both the government and the city (Dalian Municipal Work Report 2005). The

qualities of its environment and residents and the image of the government have become

the most convincing and effective advertisements to attract outside investment, gaining

the attentions of investors at home and abroad. What is more, environmental quality has

played an important role in attracting various types of talented people and in increasing

the competitive capacity and developmental sustainability of the city and, thus, the

functions of the central city. The input of capital and capable personnel has greatly sped up economic development. Between 1995 and 2000, the annual increase of GDP in

Dalian reached 11.4%, 3.6 and 2.7 percentage points higher than those of the state and

108 the province respectively (CTSY 1996-2001). In addition, the enhancement of

environmental quality gained Dalian prestige through such awards as its inclusion in the

“World 500 Best Cities”, Example City of Environmental Administration in Asia Pacific

Region, and so on.

5.4 Conventions and exhibitions as catalysts for tourism development

To better understand the decision-making process Dalian experienced in its urban

tourism development, it is useful to look at how the meetings and exhibitions industry has come to play a critical role in the upgrading of Dalian’s urban competitive competence.

5.4.1 Existing pattern of the MICE industry

Although there are still disagreements on the understanding of MICE tourism among

academic and business circles at home and abroad, so far as meetings and exhibitions are

concerned, Dalian was the first city in China to put forward the idea of “marketing the

city with meetings and exhibitions”. This strategy has since been followed by many other

cities (Dalian Municipal Government Work Report 2005).

Before 1985, Dalian Trade Promotion Committee had tried to organize exhibitions

from abroad, but only occasionally and without a systematic strategy. On July 1 1987,

when Dalian International Expo Centre came into use, the First China Northeast Region

& Inner Mongolia Export Trade Fair marked the initiation of the MICE industry in

Dalian (Data from Dalian Convention and Exhibition Office).

In 1992, in order to enhance local tourism development and the functions of a port

city, Dalian municipal government studied in detail the roles that meetings and

exhibitions might play in contributing to the urban economy, targeting building the city

into a world famous city for exhibitions (Interviews with government officials). This was

109 included in the Strategic Plan of Urban Development in 1994, the first record of such an

initiative in China. During this period, the mayor would personally invite well-known

foreign companies to participate in the exhibitions in Dalian and he promoted

environmental quality and exhibition projects. Nearly 90% of the initial exhibitions in

Dalian were held under the leadership of the government and related organizations and

trade associations. Under the strong support of the government, the first Fashion Festival

took place in 1988 which, overnight, helped to make Dalian into a famous city in China

for meetings, exhibitions and tourism. The success of MICE in Dalian can be attributed to

the city’s tourism resources and the vigorous supports of the government. The idea of

leading urban economic development with MICE tourism was gradually popularized all

over the country. According to the director of Dalian Trade Promotion Committee, at the

infancy of the industry, without governmental support, a MICE economy would not have

been the development in Dalian: to develop a market economy, the government played a

more important role in indirect regulation and service provision, taking on more

responsibilities. The Tenth China Northeast Region & Inner Mongolia Export Trading

Fair took place in Dalian Xinghai Convention and Exhibition Centre on July 1 1996 and,

after this, the MICE industry entered into a stage of rapid development.

With further development of the industry, the role of market economy gradually

played a predominant role and a group of new exhibitions organized by specific

exhibition agencies or companies came into being while governmental administrative

orders faded away. In January 1999, the Municipal Government promulgated Provisional

Method for the Management of Convention and Exhibition Industry in Dalian. It was made with reference to the key regulations popular elsewhere in the world (such as those

110 expressed in the Players in MICE Tourism: Figure 2.2), those issued by various ministries and committees of the State Council, and consideration of the practical situation in the city (Data from Dalian Municipal Government; interview results). After examination by the legislative departments, the Method became an official legal document. In accordance with the requirements of the national and provincial governments under the “examination and permission system”, Dalian Municipal

Government transferred the work to the Dalian Branch of the China Trade Promotion

Committee. At present, more than 90% of exhibitions have been operated according to market mechanisms, with the government mainly functioning in policy orientation to standardize the market and to improvement principles of competition and operation

(interview results). The overall development can be seen in Table 5.2 which shows a steady increase in the number of events and sales area. The volume of business has fluctuated around 300 million Yuan annually. There has also been considerable international involvement. Since 2001, the municipal government has invested a considerable amount of funds every year to support meetings and exhibitions in publicity and promotion, the invitation of purchasers and merchants from home and abroad, and the development of fixed exhibitions oriented towards specialized and international development. Dalian International Fashion Fair was the eighth in China, joining in UFI

(Union of International Fairs) in October 2002 on the 69th UFI Congress, when the chairperson responsible for the work in Asia, Australia and Middle East mentioned many times that Dalian was not only a famous MICE city in China, but also in Asia, where it was ranked at 11th. It was planned that more world famous exhibitions should be attracted in 3 to 5 years (Data from Dalian Convention and Exhibition Office).

111 Table 5.2 Dalian convention and exhibition industry (1996-2005) Amount Sales area Volume of business Foreign enterprises Professional Year (Number) (10,000 m2) (100 million Yuan) present level* 1996 22 21 120 316 \ 1997 34 38 208.7 1,323 50% 1998 41 31.45 250 1,247 75% 1999 53 36.2 298 896 79% 2000 52 36.8 300.4 1,787 87% 2001 55 39.2 302 2,503 89% 2002 56 43.2 306 \ \ 2003 43 31.5 280 \ \ 2004 56 33 285 3,500 90% 2005 123 68 323 \ \ * Professional level means that the exhibition or conference focuses on a specific field with some scientific or technological content. Source: Dalian Convention and Exhibition Office

However, the statistics obtained from Dalian Exhibition Office indicate less cause for

optimism. In 2004 Dalian hosted 56 conventions and exhibitions. This figure increased to

123 in 2005, a growth of 120%. So far as the total area of exhibition space was concerned,

2005 witnessed a growth of 106% over 2004, but the average for each exhibition

decreased from 5893 m2 to 5528 m2, a drop of 6%. This implies that, in spite of the

increase in the amount of conventions and exhibitions, the scale, benefit and internationalization level decreased substantially. This implies that growth may have been too fast, leading to crises that threaten its long-term development.

Among the 136 exhibition projects reported to Dalian Municipal Convention and

Exhibition Office in 2005, there were 14 with identical themes and another 48 with

similar themes that were arranged closely after one another. This dispersed the exhibition

resources, disturbed the market and prevented Dalian from building on its branding as

conventions and exhibitions centre. Even among those held, issues of small scales, low

standards and being unworthy of their titles have caused many clients to complain,

resulting in negative impacts on the industry in the city. In comparison, Hong Kong, one

of the world centres for the MICE industry, held about 80 fairs that year, of which 31

112 were chaired by the Hong Kong Trade Development Administration and 7 were the biggest in Asia (www.icca.nl).

In the past year, Dalian has cultivated some national level fairs, including the

International Fashion Expo, Software Fair, Patent Fair and Automobile Industry Expo, and dozens of those with local features, such as Dalian Trade Fair, the Oceanic Fair and the Fair of Utilities for the Old People. In early 2005, with the use of Dalian World Expo

Plaza which covers an area of 110,000 m2, the convention and exhibition industry in

Dalian shook itself loose from the limitation of having only one venue, Xinghai

Convention and Exhibition Centre, with a total area of 30,000 m2. As the director of

Dalian Municipal Trade Promotion Committee and Dean of Dalian Municipal

Conference and Exhibition Office, Mr. Li Bozhou commented, “the rapid increase of exhibition projects has much to do with the Plaza, followed by increasing repeated exhibitions and malignant competition. In the past more than ten years, the MICE industry had been in a stable and good condition under the support and standardized management of the municipal government. The Exhibition Office had been set up to be responsible for the examination, organization and coordination of various exhibitions held in Dalian. After the introduction of an Administrative Permit, the Office started the administration (of the MICE industry) according to laws and regulations without interference into any conferences or exhibitions. Some corporations rushed headlong into mass actions for short-term benefits, leading to the exhibitions ‘knocking together’ one after another” (interview).

113 5.4.2 Measures in place

Under the situation mentioned above, Dalian Municipal Government promulgated

Orientation Table of Contents for the Development of the Convention and Exhibition

Industry in Dalian during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (2006-2010) (shortened as OTC in the following paragraphs) in March 2006. Again for the first time in China, this transformed the administration-oriented convention and exhibition industry into a policy- oriented one. More than one hundred (106) exhibitions were identified to be held in 2006, a decrease of 13% compared to 2005 (Data from Dalian Convention and Exhibition

Office).

According to the OTC, the first operational local regulation on the convention and

exhibition industry in China, classified MICE projects into three types: those to be

supported and encouraged, those to be controlled, and those that were ordinary. The first type was seen as fitting into the strategy for the overall social and economic development of Dalian and as being helpful for the clients participating in the exhibitions in technology transfer, operating across nations with matched services, and contributing to the further implementation of the open door policy and the invitation of foreign investment. Furthermore, projects in which strong long specialization were featured were encouraged. The second type was targeted at controlling the disorderly repetition of unapproved and unsuitable exhibitions. The third type meant that ordinary and small- scale activities would be encouraged and standardized to meet the grass-roots demand.

As the deputy mayor, Mr. Xing Liangzhong, said, “The promulgation of the OTC is not simply to classify the conventions and exhibitions, but to provide different policies for different types and to use the resources wisely and effectively, integrating the projects

114 into the economic development of the city and elaborately cultivating the brand.

Although the local government does not examine and grant any conventions or

exhibitions any more, it can make use of the economic lever and offer different supports in policy and funding to different activities”. A Special Convention and Exhibition

Development Fund was set up by the Municipality to support the first type and

discourage the second type in arrangement, funding and promotion26.

The policy-oriented support or control from the government has been effective. By

October of 2006, 106 exhibitions, none had been disappointing. As the General Manager

of Dalian World Expo Plaza, Mr. Liang Yan, expressed, “The development environment

for the convention and exhibition industry should not be ruined. If nay old exhibition

could be held in Dalian, the overall brand of the city would be destroyed and the venues

would have nothing to survive with.”

Set up Dalian Municipal CE Steering Group

Instruction Common

Dalian Municipal Provisional Method of Micro Operation Government CE Management of MICE Market Draw up

Dalian Branch of China Trade Set up Promotion Committee

Figure 5.2 Macro operating model of MICE industry in Dalian Source: by the author So far, the exhibition venues under construction in China have reached an area of 3 million m2 (Document at Dalian CE Office). Without upgrading the overall quality and

producing brand effects, the convention and exhibition industry of China would suffer

new “bottlenecks”. According to Mr. Xing Liangzhong, Deputy Mayor of Dalian, “To

115 solve the series of problems occurring in the course of MICE development, it is essential

to undergo comprehensive administration and operation, such as the macro-regulation by

the government, management by the trade and orientation to the market, so as to avoid

messy actions and vicious competition. Only when there is fine market environment in

place, along with notions of renovation and feasibility, and first-class services can the

MICE brand at the international level be produced and, thus, push the healthy

development of the MICE economy in Dalian”. In short, the convention and exhibition

industry in Dalian has undergone a process that has been strongly directed and supported

by government (Figure 5.2). The system of advance examination of MICE projects keeps

the global and national environment in harmony with the local and forms the Dalian

Model of MICE management in China.

5.4.3 A platform open to the world

To return to the comparison between Dalian and Qingdao, it is evident that different

strategies are in place in the two coastal cities, with the former good at urban marketing

and the latter depending upon solid manufacturing industries. Dalian has established itself

as a “demonstration platform”, stressing the setting up of “open venues” and inviting

businesses to participate from around the world. This kind of operation has to be

conditioned by good locational strength (at least as a regional hub), along with matching

environment setting and an appropriate urban image. In contrast, Qingdao makes use of

its local industries to create the opportunities for the MICE development, such as the well-known China International Electronic Appliances Fair and the American Las Vegas

International Consumption Electronics Exhibition in 2004.

116 As a port and trade city, Dalian seems to be being oriented away from the domestic

market and is trying to provide a more open platform for the exhibitions at the national

and even global levels. According to one of the consultants for Dalian Fashion and

Garment Fair, Qi Nan, “The primary function of the Fair is to demonstrate Chinese

fashion to the world while introducing the famous overseas brands to China… Simply

speaking, while other cities popularize local enterprises and brands to the rest of China

through MICE industries and contribute to the growth of local industries, Dalian targets a

bigger market, that is, making the local fit into the global” (interview).

5.4.4 Players’ functions

In recent years, Dalian has made great progress in the development of MICE tourism.

However, a theoretical and practical orientation is still lacking on how to connect the convention and exhibition industry with other aspects of tourism so that strengths can be fully realized. As revealed in the interviews, most government officials provided information on their own administrative jurisdictions and seldom made reference to any others. They also generally had similar reactions to the relevant policies or regulations for various developments, often feeling that it was even offensive to be involved in the business of other departments.

As many interviewees (53 among the 61) expressed, most attendees’ stays are

organized independently by various companies (there are more than 100 MICE

companies in Dalian) who arrange tourism activities according to their own situations

(such as how much they want to earn from the delegates!). Mr. Xu Jiancheng, the

Assistant General Manager of Xinghai Convention and Exhibition Centre, even commented that they have nothing to do with Dalian Tourism Bureau. This appears to be

117 a departure from the original intention of making use of MICE as a catalyst for local

economic development, for it should not be isolated from other aspects of tourism. MICE

participants, particularly those attending large association conferences, are usually

seeking to enjoy urban amenities, preferably in an exciting environment. This is why

MICE development can thus be seen as being part of the tourism complex with linkages to hotels, visitor attractions, shops, catering and entertainment. Given the increasing competition of cities in the world in every effort to be linked to the global circuits, in the absence of complete and coordinated operational mechanisms, it is not easy for a city to seize the opportunities to attract these foot-loose economic and image generators.

Table 5.3 Functions of the government, association and enterprise in MICE Entity Functions Government Renew systems of the economic operation; regulate at the macro-level economic operations by means of laws, regulations and industrial policies; orient and control the micro-level actions of enterprises; set up effective and efficient “game rules”. Enterprises (As the most active elements in the market economy,) they should occupy the market and gain benefits by means of offering products and services according to the “game rules”. Association (As a non-profit organization,) it should control and coordinate individual actions of the members according to national laws and regulations developed by the association; provide enterprises with information, studies and training; bridge the gap between government and enterprises to help with the sound development of the overall MICE industry. Source: summarized by the author according to documents from Dalian Municipal Gov’n Note: the above would not necessarily ensure links with other tourism stakeholders.

Dalian should change the organizational structure for operating MICE development.

As mentioned earlier (refer to section 2 on stakeholders), in a market economy, the

government, the trade association and enterprises are three kinds of entities with different

characteristics but with complementary functions (Table 5.3).

In a market economy, the government should aim to produce a fair environment for

competition and the investment of enterprises at the micro level, including establishing

related administrative agencies, developing industrial development policies, plans and

118 laws, and coordinating the relationship between upper and lower administrations. It is

widely advocated the government should be separate from the enterprises and should set

the context but not interfere into their operation. However, in the case of Dalian’s MICE industries, the government should offer support in many cases. The roles of the government in MICE activities should be clarified. While it might be reasonable for the government to organize events aiming at public benefits (such as educational publicity) with operational activities allocated commercially through bidding, the government should not function as “both the judge and the player” in activities that are obviously underpinned by the seeking of profits. With limitations in planning and management systems, and under too much governmental interference, the operation of conventions and exhibitions in Dalian lack commercialization and standardization, leading to poor management and services. Thus, there is a need to establish a more comprehensive system of MICE organizers and receivers at the destination.

Under the market economy, trade associations should have four functions: 1)

“bridging” between the government and enterprises, carrying forward the industrial policies of the government within (and seeking policy supports on behalf of) the industry;

2) being the information and research centre, collecting, sorting and analyzing the professional data from at home and abroad, offering reference materials to aid in the decision making of members; 3) being the education and training centres of the members, providing targeted professional training; and 4) being the assessment and authentication centre of the qualifications and credits of relevant practitioners and corporations, so as to optimize the structure of the practitioners and improve their professional competitive competence.

119 Dalian witnesses more than 100 expositions annually, has about 100 exhibitors and

nearly 1,000 practitioners. However, there are less than 10 experienced senior project

managers and no more than 30 exhibitors with comprehensive capacities, while at least

50 professionals are usually needed for a large-scale international convention or

exhibition. In the 18 higher-education institutions of Dalian, although it is well-known for

its MICE industry in China, none has any programmes related to the convention and

exhibition industry. In order to meet the target of becoming an international MICE city, it

is essential for the city to cultivate related personnel with a contemporary understanding

of and familiarity with MICE operation.

Enterprises deliver the services in the market economy. The vitality of MICE

development depends in essence on the abilities of the related enterprises. The upgrading

of the MICE industry ultimately depends upon the array of related enterprises in the

production chain targeting profits, which can not be achieved if they only depend upon

governmental subsidies or actions.

To date, with much more government involvement and less market competition,

Dalian has not had standard trade associations. In order to meet its objectives as a MICE

city, regional in the short-term and global in a long-run, it should adopt the mature

operational models of advanced countries or regions, setting up functional trade associations to coordinate the relationship between the government and enterprises, and orienting the operation of enterprises through the mechanism of market competition

(Figure 5.3).

120

Macro Level Micro Level MICE leading group MICE enterprises MICE participants Communication Communication DL Branch of Trade Game Rules Coo

Promotion Commit. Mutual Mutual p eration MICE Trade Association

Market competition Tourism enterprises The public

Figure 5.3 Suggested operation model of MICE tourism in Dalian Source: by the author

5.5 Changing stakeholders

Hall (1995, p. 172), in Tourism and Politics, maintained that urban imaging

techniques cannot be separated from the “interest, values and power of those who

formulate them” and that local governments often present their vision of political and social reality through tourism. This vision could include, for example, drawing attention to certain traits that the government deems favorable, such as urban renewal or entrepreneurialism.

Although the political and administrative dimensions of tourism occur at different levels: global, international, national, provincial, community and individual and, regardless of the level of analysis, the political process is dominated by the state (as demonstrated by the discussion in the above section). The state is a powerful, resilient,

pragmatic and reflexive social structure capable of sustained purposeful action across

many areas of social activity, of which tourism is only one (Hall 1996). One of the most

significant aspects of the state is its political form, in particular the relative balance of

power between the central government and the regions. In China, with a unitary

governmental system, tourism planning and promotion are controlled primarily by the

121 central government. Different state levels tend to be given different sets of objectives to

achieve via tourism development (Airey 1983). Further, different regional levels may

have different approaches toward the development of tourism resources. Thus, the study

of tourism policy formation in China is made more complex because the aims of the local

state may diverge from those of the central state. This thesis on tourism in Dalian has

addressed political systems at three levels: national, provincial and municipal, although

the provincial perspective has not been referred to much due to Dalian’s special position

in China. Dalian is a city designated at the sub-provincial level, which entitles it to report

directly to the central government for many responsibilities. Nevertheless, the

institutional mechanism in China makes it inevitable that the state plays a dominant role

in orienting the development of Dalian, such as designating the city’s open economic

policies in 1984, as a city of port, industry and tourism in the 1990s and, most recently, as a Northeast Asia Shipping Centre under the movement of Restoring the Old Industrial

Base of Northeast China in 2003. The state acts as an invisible presence in tourism. By

providing infrastructural support and development policies for services, it can determine

the direction of growth of the tourism industry, and it can shape the images that have

implications for the experience of travel. For example, Dalian was designated as “the

pearl of Northern China” by the former president, Jiang Zemin, and “romantic city” by one of the municipal leaders.

Special development stages in China have led to changing roles of different

stakeholders, typically in three periods:

Initial stage – leadership of the government. With the early tourism development in

China centering on famous mountains or waterfronts and committed to diplomatic

122 relationship, government were the key stakeholders while other individuals or

organizations hardly had any voice. Tourism planning during this period featured with

the assessment of tourism resources and their development. A case in point is the decision-making process for an urban facility (Figure 5.4), which would not be in place without the grant, administration and monitoring of the government. Again, Dalian was no exception. For example, the construction of the two phases of the convention centre on

Xinghai Square (Xinghai Convention and Exhibition Centre and Dalian World Expo

Plaza), were both solely funded by the government.

Proposal based on the overall or specific plan at the national or local level

Trust professional planning institute with the planning or designing Mo

difi Examination and assessment by specific department of the government cat i on Apply for the permission from the people’s congress at the same level after the grant of govn’t

Implementation by specific department of the government after the grant obtained from congress

Figure 5.4 Decision making process for an urban facility Source: after the notes of the interviews and related governmental document

With the strengthening of environmental protection all around China, especially the

movement for “urban beautification” in many cities, Dalian is encountering the threat of

loosing its competitive strength established by enhancement of environmental qualities.

To maintain the rapid development of tourism, Dalian had to identify a new impetus. In

1992, Dalian municipal government started the research of the comprehensive impacts of

123 MICE on the social and economic development of the city and included it in the strategic

plan for urban development in 1994 for the first time in China, putting forward the goal

of building Dalian into an international city of MICE. A leading group was established in

February 1996 (Dalian Municipal Work Report 2004), when Dalian Xinghai Convention and Exhibition Centre was set up. Since then, working objectives, tasks, indicators and key people with responsibility have been publicized at the beginning of each year, and the achievements or performances reported to the municipal government and notified to the citizens at the end of the year (though how much the citizens know and what sense it makes have yet to be pursued, because when the author interviewed a couple of citizens to corroborate the information gained by interviewing the convention centre participants, they had no idea about it). MICE development has been included in the working agenda of the government. In April of 1999, Dalian Municipal Government Office publicized the

Provisional Methods of Exhibition Administration of Dalian City developed by the

Dalian Branch of the Foreign Economy and Trade Committee, Industrial and Commercial

Administration, and China International Trade Promotion Committee (Economy Daily

2004). It was the first time for the economic and trading exhibitions to be standardized by local regulations, and thus provide a guarantee of their legal and sound development.

Developing stage – focus on enterprises. Tourism development and the intense competition led to changes in the composition of the stakeholders. In addition to the government, enterprises were encouraged to invest in tourism development and, thus, the

focus of tourism planning changed to concentrate on marketing analysis and the planning

of the tourism industries, based on the market and resources, and oriented by products.

124

Figure 5.5 Dalian Xinghai Square and the conference centres (the first & second phases) Source: adopted from www.dl.yahtour.com

Again, with respect to the MICE tourism in Dalian, in 1995 the municipal government was fundamental, through concentrated financial support, in the decision to build large modern venues for meetings and exhibitions. However, when the MICE industry was in its infancy in China, other stakeholders were encouraged to become involved in the process of holding impressive exhibitions and conferences, typically

125 including business and trade companies, travel agencies, etc. (there are now more than

100 so-called professional companies undertaking various MICE activities in Dalian). At

the same time, there was expanded construction of Xinghai Square, with landscaping,

fountains and statues. This greatly changed the environment around the convention centre,

making the area one of the iconic sites for visitors (Figure 5.5).

Xinghai Square, the largest urban square in Asia, was built to memorialize the return

of Hong Kong to China. The construction was finished in 1997 (Dalian Government

Website). Huge white marble huabiao (ornamental columns, usually erected in front of

palaces, tombs, etc.) were built (19.97 meters tall, 1.997 meters in diameter) with nine

carved dragons representing China (the nine divisions of China in remote antiquity). In

the middle is a round design, like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, paved by 999 pieces

of red marbles from Sichuan Province, on which are the ten Heavenly Stems (used as

serial numbers and also in combination with the twelve Earthly Branches to designate

years, months, days and hours), 24 solar terms and 12 symbolic animals associated with

the 12-year cycle (often used to denote the year of a person’s birth). Around the square are 9 big ancient cooking vessels (with two loop handles and three or four legs, in the

designs of different dynasties) carved with “Long Live the Great Unity of the Chinese

People”, standing for “yi yan jiu ding” (which means sincerity and credit are more

important than the valuable “ding”, a cooking vessel in ancient China, representing power,

fortune and royalty. This is an old Chinese saying deriving from a legend. See Chinese

Idioms, various versions). The star-shaped square and the sea give rise to the name of

Xing (star) Hai (the sea) Square. The square is designed to expressing the deep feeling of

the Dalianese for the other Chinese People. The internal diameter of the square is 199.9

126 meters, representing the city reaching its 100 years in 1999, while the external diameter

of 239.9 meters predicts the 500-year ceremony of the city in 2399. Five hundred meters

north from the central point of the square is the convention centre; to the south, beyond

the Century City Sculpture (representing the 100-year history of contemporary Dalian), is

the sea. The main road, paved with red bricks with green grass on both sides, leads to the

sea. Stone lamps in the style of navigation markers are set up at intervals of 20 meters

signaling China’s return as a participant in world affairs, leaving behind a century of

national shame. In the southeast corner is Dalian Shell Museum, with the largest exhibit

in Asia. To the west of the convention centre is the Modern Museum.

All these developments have been directed by the national government and

implemented by the municipal government. They are of great political and economic

significance. It is not clear how much other players have been involved, although many

private exhibition companies have been established to keep the convention centres busy

throughout the year.

Mature stage – analysis of stakeholders: During the comparatively mature period of

tourism development, an increasing number of stakeholders have played indispensable

roles, including tourists, travel agencies, developers, local residents, and various

departments of the government. Although few tourism plans are produced with the inputs

of stakeholders, more and more tourism destinations have realized the importance of multi-partner cooperation.

In the case of Dalian, in spite of its reputation and civic pride concerning overall

urban development, more must be done for it to enter into this stage. The model of

environmental momentum (Figure 5.1) is undoubtedly an embodiment of the government

127 orientation. In spite of the rapid tourism development, the increasing functional influence of the government, which is an important player at all levels of operation, might limit the development of the non-state owned economy and, thus, restrict the vigorous economic development. As reflected from the interviews and discussed above, different interviewees expressed only minor differences in their concerns and usually came to similar conclusions. Those from the government or official organizations were apparently cautious in what they would say and tried to be in accordance to the general policies and regulations related to their own fields. Their responses reflected their own importance as well as the political and economic significance of senior government officials in local decision making. However, they still described the efforts that they had made to involve as many stakeholders as possible. For example, in the process of bringing an urban facility into being, such legal procedures as EIA and getting opinions of the public would be in place and were referred to. However, the local people are used to a long history of government dominance; most of them are not very active in providing input and would rather leave the decision making to the government. As to the cooperation between different organizations or sectors, all interviewees agreed that this is vital and that it does not occur sufficiently. They admitted that it would take some time for this to happen.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that while the environmental momentum has contributed to the rise of land values and financial revenues, it has also increased business operation costs. Whether the situation is good or not for the overall economic development of the city has yet to be determined but it can be confirmed that the increase in land values has resulted in a large increase in residents’ living costs, such as in the prices for items of daily consumption and housing. Many citizens with a low income

128 have to live in the suburbs but still can not avoid high costs due to the expenses of

transportation. Furthermore, following environmental enhancement, Dalian has become

more suitable for living and more and more rich people have been attracted to purchase

houses, have holidays and to settle down. According to a survey undertaken in 2003 (Bao

and Long 2005), 65-80% of the houses in the downtown of Dalian had been bought by

non-locals. As one taxi-driver said, “Dalian has become beautiful but is for the outsiders”.

5.5 Summary

This chapter analyzed and commented upon the information that the author collected during the field study, aiming at identifying the answers put forward at the beginning of the research. Some questions have been answered directly and others indirectly through the contextual analyses. The situation can be summarized as follows:

Since the very beginning of the urban development of Dalian, given the city’s unique

geography, tourism has been one of the elements considered by the planners and the

government at various levels, although the importance attached to it has changed with

time. With a short history and even less experience in tourism development, Dalian first

set up the notion of upgrading urban values through environmental enhancement and thus

establishing a virtuous circle through tourism development. However, the long history of

being an industrial and port city, along with an earlier over-emphasis on the development of heavy industries before and at the beginning of the establishment of P.R. China, meant that it took some time to establish its image as a touristic city and even longer as a

“romantic” one.

The specific situation of China empowered the government to be the only decision

maker for a long time, in spite of the imperative needs under the globalization for more

129 stakeholders to be involved of market economy. The development of the MICE industry in Dalian demonstrates the changing composition of stakeholders, from the government as the only actor to the involvement of enterprises and related agencies. However, cooperation among different national, regional, and local organizations, such as between tourism agencies and the MICE organizers, has yet to be achieved. Improvement in this is important, especially as the city aims to build upon its position as a transportation centre for Northeast Asia.

130 Chapter 6 Conclusions

This research started with the claim that many urban facilities are multifunctional.

This means that they serve different people at different times for different purposes and

sometimes different people for different purposes. They may even serve the same people

for different purposes and at different times. Furthermore, their creation is driven by different decision makers according to their own social, political and economic situations, and the variety of natural and human resources that can be accessed in different cities.

After outlining the research goals and objectives in the first chapter, the context of

the research was set by examining a variety of themes, ranging from the definition and

development of urban tourism to the roles of cities, and from the intersection of global

and local forces to the booming of MICE tourism as one strategy that has been adopted to stimulate urban economies. To justify the selection of the study site, tourism and the changing roles of cities in China were also explored. Given the specific research goals and objectives, the urban and tourism development process of the case study area, Dalian, was reviewed in a separate chapter (chapter 4). In this city and employing research methods that were described in Chapter 3, Chapter 5 presented the research findings, showing the significance of this research and its contribution to the theory and practice of urban development and urban tourism.

In the introduction to this thesis, a series of questions was raised to guide the research

process. These questions will be reiterated here and responses will be provided

concerning these issues and their significance, based on the research that has been

undertaken.

131 • What are the goals and objectives for tourism development in the city? How do

they complement or contradict the overall development strategy for the city?

As the study revealed, if tourism development receives due consideration in the early stages of development in a city, it can be used as a part of and to complement other components in the overall development strategy for the city. Tourism development in the city should be used as a means to enhance the overall urban development, rather than as an end in itself. It is possible to develop a synergistic relationship between tourism and other forms of development, sound urban development in itself being helpful for the development of tourism in a city.

China used to impress the outside world as a country that was focused on its own development with few links with the rest of the globe. However, thoughts have changed and now China is an increasingly important global player. This research uses a case study approach to demonstrate this more recent dimension. By looking into the general patterns of urban development and urban tourism in Dalian, the study documents the efforts that a city in a developing country has made at different stages to link its social and economic development with the global scene, although some of these relationships were imposed by external world powers. Unlike many other Chinese cities which have experienced many planning initiatives, Dalian municipal officials had the foresight to have tourism development included in their urban plans as early as in 1980s, although the real importance of the role of tourism did not materialize until the late 1980s. It has been shown that tourism development of the city has been an integral part of and complementary to the overall urban development strategy. It has helped to strengthen the image of a city whose leaders have been keen to present it as clean, modern, active, and

132 eager to promote itself to the rest of the world. They have striven to do this even though

the city is still more influential at the regional rather than the global level. The

environmental enhancement has not only upgraded the city’s competitive competence but,

along with the construction of numerous tourism facilities, of which conference centres

are an example, also embodied the notion put forward in the earlier part of the paper that

urban facilities are largely multifunctional and are aimed at and used by clients with

multiple purposes. This also implies that tourism is not an end in itself but is one means

of facilitating urban development.

• Who have been the stakeholders, what have their roles been, and how have these

changed over time? Who are the emerging key players within the process of

decision making? Is planning sufficiently flexible to accommodate the interests of

new players and to respond to and guide change successfully?

There is a world-wide trend in democratic societies for a greater degree of neighbourhood control over decision making (Hoyle 2000; Campo 2002). The relationship between community groups and government agencies clearly involves a multi-directional process of interaction and understanding. Sometimes this appears to work well, and to be generally positive, while at other times there is an air of uncertainty and perhaps mistrust. Sometimes there may be confrontation. The study of Dalian presents a case of the predominance of the government in the decision-making process for urban (tourism) development. This situation is typical of most cities of China, although initiatives have been taken to modify the city through tourism. However, greater involvement of non-governmental stakeholders is slow in coming into being. As revealed by the case of Dalian, at the very beginning of the development, the residents near

133 Xinghai Square had negative opinions concerning the strategy and did not understand why the area would be cleared. Of course, although they could and did voice their

disagreement, they were largely ignored due to their weak positions, or they themselves

were indifferent in the urban development, were willing to leave, or were used to leaving

decisions to be made by the government (interviews). On the other hand, no specific

methods have been taken to initiate or encourage the involvement of the neighborhood

residents. The study also reveals that it is difficult to understand who exactly, except for the government and its related departments, has been involved in the decision-making process of establishing the conference centre or other facilities in the city. Although it would seem to be important to know how these have been put in place, because the communications among different departments and organizations are not transparent, and because it is extremely difficult for a researcher to obtain detailed documents, the decision-making process is opaque, if not hidden.

As section 2.1.2.5 implied (also refer to 4.5.2), in spite of the important role played

by the government in setting the macro development policies and regulations, more and

more cases have documented the requirement for the involvement of the private sector in

making financial contributions to the construction and the implementation of the

initiatives (Patton and Witzling 1989). The urban development of Dalian has largely

followed a similar process, probably to a greater degree than most other cities in China,

as will be discussed further in point 3 in the following conclusions. However, so far as

the case of MICE tourism in Dalian is concerned, two aspects are clear: one is that many

private companies were set up to arrange the exhibitions and conferences, and the other is

that the funding for the construction of the convention and exhibition centres was derived

134 entirely from the government. There is a lack of standardization in systems, or, as Adair

et al. (1999) explained, the ratio of public to private financing is likely to vary with the

phase of development, the former being likely to be most significant initially and the

latter becoming more forthcoming once basic infrastructure is in place. In fact, Dong

(2004) has argued this very point in the context of waterfront redevelopment in Dalian. In

addition to the regeneration of the surroundings of Xinghai Square as a splendid setting,

looking back at the themes of urban tourism, it is evident that Dalian has been steadily

building a range of facilities. According to the interviews, more than 60% of respondents

mentioned that the construction of convention centres was inevitable if Dalian was to

become a regional and even international trade, business, tourism and shipping centre. At the same time, the environmental (or green) revolution has set up sound context for such upgrading.

Planning for tourism occurs in a number of forms (development, infrastructure,

promotion and marketing) and structures (different government organizations) and at a

variety of scales (international, national, regional, local and sectoral). Tourism planning

has tended to mirror broader trends within the urban and regional planning traditions

(Murphy 1985; Getz 1986, 1987). Moreover, planning for tourism will reflect the

economic, environmental and social goals of government at whichever level the planning

process is being carried out. Therefore, in many ways, planning may be regarded as going

hand-in-hand with tourism policy.

China started to borrow Western planning principles in recent years. For example,

land-use zoning and development planning can be found at the local government level.

State development, accommodation and building regulations, the density of tourism

135 development, and the presentation of cultural, historical and natural tourism features have

all been taken into consideration for regional tourism development. Tourism planning in

China was highly centralized within state agencies. According to Hall (1991, p 50), “The

administration of tourism under socialism…has…implicitly acted both to contain and to

concentrate tourism – and especially foreign tourism – within very specific spatial

parameters”. The tourism industry in China has believed that without governmental

involvement in tourism planning, development of the industry will lack cohesion and

direction and short-term initiatives might well jeopardize long-term potential.

Government tourism planning therefore serves as an arbiter between competing interests.

To better catch up with global trends, many cities in China are trying to involve more

stakeholders in, and in decisions about, their urban development. This is the case in

Dalian with the attraction of external investment, the encouragement of local enterprises

to be involved in MICE tourism, and so on. However, as the research reveals, more could

be done in this respect. Given the long history of strong government predominance in all

aspects of development, the increased participation of different players is only occurring

slowly under the current mechanisms of the planning system in China. Current urban and

tourism planning procedures have yet to embrace new players and or allow them to

become full participants in the decision-making process.

With unique national and cultural conditions, Dalian has been grasping opportunities

to upgrade its image and economic strength, and tourism has undoubtedly played an

important role in this, the increasing “urban tourism elements” will provide momentum

for it to become a well-known coastal city in Northeast Asia, further improvements in the

136 overall urban functions are required. Consideration has yet to be given to its development from the following perspectives:

9 Regional leadership: the modernization of Dalian covers the central city and

surrounding rural counties and towns, both of which are indispensable to, depend

upon, are associated with and contribute to each other. It is obvious that the

peripheral areas in its surroundings have to rely on the leadership of Dalian city in

the central position and many things needs to be done to enhance their situations.

9 Parallel development of the second and tertiary industries: As a port city, it is

inevitable for Dalian to focus on the development of associated service industries.

However, the development and operation of newly emerging industries are also

critical for the success of the city. The industrial structure in Dalian was 9.5：

46.5：44 in 2000, and became 8.6：46.2：45.2 in 2005 (The 11th Five-Year Plan

Compendium for Dalian National Economy and Social Development, 2006),

presenting a pattern of coordinated development in both the secondary and

tertiary industries, a change from the greater prominence of the secondary

industries in earlier years.

9 Transformation of leading forces: in the course of modernization, only when

Dalian completes the transformation from the government as the primary

developer to a market-oriented pattern with enterprises playing the major role will

it be able to keep up with global development trends.

• Were the multifunctional facilities (such as convention centres) built as part of the

overall urban development strategies? Why were they built? Whose idea was it?

What stakeholders were involved? Who made the critical decisions? Who

137 provided the money? What was the decision-making process like? What was in

the location before? Was the new facility seen as contributing to the city’s image

as a business or tourism centre or both? Was the development seen as being part

of a city revitalization program? Was the new facility seen as addressing

seasonality concerns?

It is evident from the study that most urban facilities in Dalian have been developed to enhance the overall urban image of the city as a regional business, trade, communication and tourism centre. From the early planning to the recent extension of the urban areas, Xinghai Bay has been designated for the development of business and recreation, though the most dramatic change took place in the late 1990s with land reclamations from a garbage disposal site and from the sea. In spite of growing suggestions that more stakeholders should be involved in the decision-making process, the case of Dalian illustrates the dominance of government initiatives in all of the development stages, including the creative strategies in environmental enhancement, the attraction of external investment and the ambition to promote the city through MICE tourism. It should, then, not be surprising that two conference centres have been built, as predominantly city government initiatives, which are not only “the mayor’s trophies”, but also contribute to the attraction and competence of the city as a regional tourism hub. In addition, the historical development of Dalian has endowed it with features that have much to do with business, trade and now tourism that are rich in international elements, such as a regional and international port city imposed by external powers (especially

Russia and Japan), and an industrial base and military fort for protection against the incursion of foreign powers following the establishment of P.R. China. Following the

138 economic and political reforms that were initiated in 1978, Dalian became a Chinese window to the world, and in the early years of the new century the central government set the goal for the city to become the transportation hub of Northeast Asia. All these have made the development of business facilities indispensable. On the other hand, the geographical attributes of a maritime location have also fostered the development of tourism, whether as a coastal resort or in the form of urban attractions. Again the multifunctional facilities are sold to multi-motivated customers or users. The city has diversified of facilities, with a multiplicity of themes, that are concentrated at Xinghai

Square but also integrated into the overall urban development, reflecting the attributes of urban tourism and the components required to form the urban ‘tourist gaze’ (see section

2.2).

In short, the urban development of Dalian reflects the following conditions:

1. High importance attached by the municipal government to urban development. The

Dalian Government has viewed the city as being the largest state-owned asset As

such, it has to be operated and administrated by the government, although there is not

much interference with private enterprises which have been increasingly allowed to

run according to the market economy. Making use of differences in land values, the

municipal government has tried to optimize land use, upgrading and selling land and

investing the revenue in the construction of urban infrastructure.

2. Cognition of synergistic relationships between environment and economy. According

to statement emanating from the municipal government, the urban environment and

the urban economy are integral to each other. A good environment contributes to

urban economic development while the latter can provide the resources for further

139 improvement of the former. In 1990, there were about 1,000 joint and foreign

enterprises in Dalian. This number increased to more than 8,000 in 2001 (Dalian

Daily Sep. 15 2003) and over 10,000 in 2006 (interview). Many investors were

attracted by the privileged geographical environment.

3. Multi-sourced funding (interview). Every year the municipal budget provides about 1

billion RMB yuan (about Can$147.0588 million) for urban infrastructure construction.

However, with the invitation of outside investment, 80% of large-scale projects in

recent years have been supported by foreign investment and loans from the World

Bank and the Asian Bank. Increased land values are used to defray the loans and for

urban construction. Furthermore, municipal and regional governments have been

required to make financial commitments: when a project is designated to a district,

the local government is required to offer matching fund at a ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 in

addition to receiving the appropriate subsidies from the municipal government. In

addition, the urban public utilities are all marketized, with trademarks on taxis, large

outdoor advertising facilities and business stands on public sites. The overhead

bridges across the main streets of Dalian have all been constructed with funding of

advertisers who have been paid for use of the billboards on both sides of the bridges.

As implied in the anti-esssentialist argument (Sorkin 1992; Wood 1993; Zukin 1992), tourism policy is not simply about weighing the “positive” impacts against the “negative” impacts. All too often, the literature focuses on how to avoid or avert the negative influences of tourism, especially in socio-cultural matters which are the most difficult to control. This thesis suggests that globalization, because it interweaves the internal with external, operates at several levels - in the local, the national, the regional, and the global

140 arenas - and because it thrusts multiple structures and agents together in cooperative as well as competitive ways, interactions can only be shaped by unique patterns, according to the environments in which they occur. Viewed in this way, for tourism, the global and the local form a dyad acting as a dialectical process. It is not so much about balancing the

“good” with the “bad”, rather, it is about the responsiveness of the tourism system to the multiple inputs that comprise and impinge upon it. Given the favourable policies and the geographical location that Dalian has enjoyed, the case of this city should not be generalized to encompass all the urban development situations in the rest of China.

However, it reveals that those that are in a position to give priority to the integration of tourism into their overall urban development strategy and are capable of combining the opportunities provided by their local features in the context of globalization, will be better placed to take advantage of the ever-changing global trends.

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156 Notes:

1 There is considerable value in viewing tourism and recreation as part of wider conceptualization of leisure (Shaw and Williams 1994, 2002; Hall and Page 2002). In figure 6 broken lines are used to illustrate that the boundaries between the concepts are “blurred”. Work is typically differentiated from leisure, but there are two main realms of overlap: first, business travel, which is often seen as a work-oriented form of tourism; and second, “serious leisure,” which refers to the breakdown between leisure and work pursuits and the development of leisure career paths with respect to hobbies and interests (Stebbins 1979, 1982 in Hall et al. 2004).

WORK LEISURE

DAY TRIPPING TOURISM

BUSINESS TRAVEL LIESURE TRAVEL RECREATION SECOND SECOND HOME HOMES SERIOUS EDUCATIONAL LEISURE TRAVEL

Figure 6. Relationships between leisure, recreation, and tourism Source: After Hall 2003.

2 According to Smith (2004), the conceptual and analytical difficulties for the measurement of tourism derive from several reasons. One of them is the tendency of researchers to propose different definitions to meet their needs or justify their perspective on an issue, such as the four “platforms” he cited Jafari (1992) to summarize the differences. The first is the “advocacy” platform, which focuses on tourism’s contributions to job creation and economic development; the “cautionary platform” takes an opposing view by pointing out the costs of tourism; the “adaptancy” platform recognizes both benefits and costs of tourism and argues that proper planning and management can ameliorate problems while still achieving benefits of tourism; and finally, the “scientific” platform focuses on the objective understanding of tourism as a phenomenon.

3 According to WTO (1994), visitor is anyone involved in tourism as a consumer; tourist is a visitor stays overnight; and same-day visitor is a visitor who does not stay overnight.

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4 These were not the consumer services, such as retailing or fast-food restaurants, hotel maid and bellhop services, security guards, custodians, and auto parts workers. These consumer services pay relatively low wages, often starting at the minimum wage. In contrast, the metropolitan economics were being driven by advanced services, also called producer services. These producer services are knowledge based and include legal services, advanced financial services, marketing, advertising, engineering and architecture, accounting, investment banking, and telecommunications (Sassen 2002).

5 Globalization is a process to be explored rather than a simple mantra to be trotted out to explain the rapidly changing world of tourism and leisure. Despite this, there can be no doubt that there have been globalization processes in tourism, even if the full implications for the national state and the way lives are regulated remain highly contested. Cochrane and Pain (2000: 15-17) are helpful in this, arguing that globalization can be understood in terms of four main concepts: • Stretched social relation. The existence of cultural, economic and political networks of connections across the world. • Regionalization. Increased interconnection between states that border on each other. • Intensification. Increased density of interaction across the globe which implies that the impacts of events are felt more strongly than before. • Interpenetration. The extent to which apparently distant cultures and societies come face to face with each other at local level, creating increased diversity.

6 They suggest that we should just forget about artificial terms like “services” and “manufacturing” and instead think about production chains and information flows within and between companies. Daniels and Bryson also argue that intangible assets or non-physical factors such as exotic holiday destinations (i.e., symbolic goods) are increasingly determining economic value, and that the ways in which services are “manufactured” is a much-neglected avenue of research.

7 The worst affected, such as Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester in Britain, Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh in the US, and the cities of the Ruhr in Germany; less suffered, such as Bristol, Munich, Barcelona and San Francisco; and the world city benefited, such as London, New York and Tokyo.

8 Tourism urbanization is a process of dominant economic processes shaping cities toward a common end, urbanization based on the sale and consumption of pleasure, representing the most dramatic expression of the postmodern city (Mullins 1991), characteristics including the predominance of a service economy, a rise in consumption and a consumer class, intensification of inter-city competition based on “image”, and local authorities taking on a boosterist or entrepreneurial role. There are two types of urbanization (Gladstone 1998), namely the sun, sea, and sand resort and the capital- intensive, attraction-based city. Gladstone broadened the scope of Mullins’ initial work on tourism urbanization and thereby emphasized the growing specialization of tourism and leisure functions in the postmodern city.

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9 Two forms of tourist urbanization: in the mature economies of the UK and the US, the first scenario is exemplified by the “touristization” of such unlikely candidates as the mining towns in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and manufacturing sites such as Bradford and Leeds (Buckley and Witt 1985, 1989), as well as the inner cities of Baltimore and Boston (Law 1993). By contrast, more recently industrialized countries have responded not so much through the restructuring of existing urban sites as through the creation of new resorts, for example, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts of Australia (Mullins 1991) and Japan’s resort archipelago (Rimmer 1992).

10 Entrepreneurial city: a form of governance which with respect to economic development is proactive, pragmatic, opportunistic and competitive (Law 2000, Hall and Hubbard 1998). Frequently the local authority and other parts of the public sector join with private sector organizations, profit-making firms and possibly with the voluntary sector to create public-private partnerships with visions for either a large area like the city centre, a district part of the city centre, or for a sector such as tourism (Law 2000). Jessop’s (1998a; Jessop and Sum 2000) definition contains three key elements – namely, entrepreneurial strategy, discourse/fashion and images. More fundamentally, however, these elements are bundled together in the notion of ‘glurbanisaiton’, which suggests that a city or region can act just like a firm in the sense that various actors are self-organised into meaningful entity to engage in place-based strategic promotion. The latter implies a significant potential of the ‘entrepreneurial city’, as it raises the question of how these actors are ‘orchestrated’ into such a project of promotion (Wu 2003).

11 Hall’s (2005) ideas about seduction of place in Melbourne and Sydney reflect these processes and the ways that the state-captal alliance seeks to ‘seduce’ capital and engage in ‘urban imaging’ and ‘branding’ of the city. In both cities, the state is promoting new leisure-oriented waterfront development, replacing industrial and low- income landscapes. Through targeted projects, including Sydney’s successful bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics , Hall shows how the state has sought to reimage not only particular landscapes, attracting both tourists and locals, but how it has also worked to promote lifestyle, in which local places defer to a kind of global template of daily life consumption for the professional class. The question remains, how sustainable is such constructed, packaged, and branded ‘seduction’?

12 In a study of Christchurch, New Zealand, Schollmann, Perkins, and Moore (2000) interpret global marketing influences as reaching across space and time. Christchurch is marketed in tourism brochures and campaigns as a city with intimate connections to its British colonial past. As a “garden city,” Christchurch caters to visitors seeking a slice of the colonial British charm while also broadening its appeal as a historic city. To maintain a more contemporary global edge, the city also promotes itself as a trendy place with cafes, pubs, nightlife, and lifestyle outlets, and a home to cosmopolitan youth cultures. On the local front, Christchurch highlights its attributes as a gateway to New Zealand’s South Island, an adventure capital, and its proximity to the country’s diverse rural and pastoral attractions. These global/local images – colonial, lifestyle,

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sports, and ecological – are clearly at odds with one another but explain the city’s multifaceted appeal.

13 Cities capitalize on the tourist gaze in revamping themselves as destination sites. Urry (1995) substantiates this argument with a case of industrial Lancashire and the city of Lancaster, the sites of England’s first industrial revolution and the birth of the mass holiday resort. Then changing market preferences led to a fall in the popularity of seaside resorts, Lancashire was given a new lease of life in terms of the region’s industrial past. Other cities throughout the 1980s also began reconstructing their economies and landscapes to create their own “heritage industry” (Hewison 1987; De Bres 1994); the working past has taken on a nostalgic patina of the exotic, and industrial cities have been revalorized, at least in the eyes of the post-tourist, as quaint sites of leisure and heritage experiences.

14 Where the theme of culture, heritage and pilgrimage was central during the four millennia covering the reigns of the dynastic emperors from 2000 BC to 1900 AD, it virtually disappeared during the 20th century as a series of upheavals wracked the country. The declaration of the Republic in 1912 broke the linkage with annual imperial pilgrimages; subsequent internal unrest up to the latter half of the 1940s prevented most recreational travel; the three and a half decades of Mao Zedong’s regime suppressed both traditional culture and freedom to travel as he pursued his vision of “totalistic iconoclasm” (Lin 1979); and only with the advent of Deng’s “open door policy” of 1978 were these trends reversed. Tourism then became acceptable because of its capacity to make a contribution to modernization, though contradictions remain between the differing objectives of the forces of socialism, modernization, globalization and traditional culture as the Chinese economy powers its way towards the 21st century.

15 Because of the tensions generated between the Chinese government’s determination to maintain political stability under the Communist Party and attempts to find the appropriate mix of traditional Chinese culture, socialist culture, and “modern” culture (the latter necessarily incorporating western values and systems), with reference to developments in tourism. The dynamics of the centripetal and centrifugal internal forces exerted between socialist ideology and traditional culture are, to some degree, stronger than the modernity and exogenous global forces, although tourism must be seen as a significant force for modernization. The “Chineseness” (Ogden 1992) of the situation in the Middle Kingdom, sets the processes of modernization through tourism apart from the global forces which are considered by some to impose significant homogenization and standardization of tourism products on societies – the so-called “global village” concept (Bonniface and Fowler 1993; Crick 1989; Rosenberg and White 1957). The relative unity of China as a single entity over a 4000 year period and its accompanying “Chineseness” (notwithstanding the upheavals associated with imperial wars, Mongol and Manchu invasion, European imperial incursions, “warlordism”, Japanese invasion, civil war, ethnic minorities, Chinese communist extremism, and, most recently, 20th century economic materialism and globalization) has resulted in a cultural resilience which has defied this wide range of both

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endogenous and exogenous forces for change. Of course, this is not to imply that Chinese culture has remained static over four millennia, but rather that it has retained unique features which have survived in manifold forms.

16 National and global markets as well as globally integrated organizations require central places where the work of globalization gets done. Finance and advanced corporate services are industries producing the organizational commodities necessary for the implementation and management of global economic systems. Cities are preferred sites for the production of these services, particularly the most innovative, speculative, internationalized service sectors. Further, leading firms in information industries require a vast physical infrastructure containing strategic nodes with hyper- concentration of facilities; it is necessary to distinguish between the capacity for global transmission/ communication and the material conditions that make this possible. Finally, even the most advanced information industries have a production process that is at least partly place-bound because of the combination of resources it requires even when the outputs are hyper-mobile (Sassen 2002).

17 Tourism is a fundamentally different type of industry from other forms of commodity production (Debbage and Ioannides 2004), “it is no simple product but, rather, a wide range of products and services that interact to provide an opportunity to fulfill a tourist experience that comprises both tangible parts (e.g. hotel, restaurant, or airline) and intangible parts (e.g. sunset, scenery, mood).” For many tourists, the actual purchase and consumption/production of tourist services (e.g. the airline seat, the meal, and the admission ticket) may be incidental to “non-market” activities such as independent sightseeing, hiking, sunbathing, or photography.

18 Entrepreneurial city: a form of governance which with respect to economic development is proactive, pragmatic, opportunistic and competitive (Law 2000, Hall and Hubbard 1998). Frequently the local authority and other parts of the public sector join with private sector organizations, profit-making firms and possibly with the voluntary sector to create public-private partnerships with visions for either a large area like the city centre, a district part of the city centre, or for a sector such as tourism (Law 2000). Jessop’s (1998a; Jessop and Sum 2000) definition contains three key elements – namely, entrepreneurial strategy, discourse/fashion and images. More fundamentally, however, these elements are bundled together in the notion of ‘glurbanisaiton’, which suggests that a city or region can act just like a firm in the sense that various actors are self-organised into meaningful entity to engage in place-based strategic promotion. The latter implies a significant potential of the ‘entrepreneurial city’, as it raises the question of how these actors are ‘orchestrated’ into such a project of promotion (Wu 2003).

19 Chang et al.’s (1996) analysis of Montreal and Singapore, for example, argues that global and local forces are equally important in shaping places. Cities may look and operate like each other (because of globalization’s homogenizing tendencies), but they are also unique and distinctive (because of site-specific influences). On the one hand, homogeneity results from “urban heritage tourism” being adopted as a means of

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rejuvenating Montreal’s and Singapore’s inner cities and their economies, with downtown heritage quarters such as festive waterfronts and ethnic districts being developed to cater to tourists and lifestyle services. On the other hand, “geography also matters”, as exemplified by the cities’ different historical trajectories and heritages, be it Montreal’s industrial experience or Singapore’s colonial and multicultural heritage. The public-private sector involvement in urban planning and heritage conservation is also different, reflecting variation in urban governance. Local communities’ reactions to urban enhancement also vary widely, resulting in different social impacts.

20 For example, customs and immigration departments which police the entry of international visitor arrivals, or national parks agencies which have a major conservation mandate even though they also manage a significant attraction to tourist in many parts of the world (Hall 2000).

21 International tourism policies from 1945 to the present (Hall 2000: 16): Phase Characteristics 1945-1955 The dismantling and streamlining of the police, customs, currency, and health regulations that had been put into place following the second world war. 1955-1970 Greater government involvement in tourism marketing in order to increase tourism earning potential. 1970-1985 Government involvement in the supply of tourism infrastructure and in the use of tourism as a tool of regional development. 1985-present Continued use of tourism as a tool for regional development, increased focus on environmental issues, reduced direct government involvement in the supply of tourism infrastructure, greater emphasis on the development of public-private partnerships and industry self-regulation.

22 Typology of power and related concepts (Hall 2003): Concept Meaning Authority B complies because he recognizes that A’s command is reasonable in terms of his own values, either because its content is legitimate and reasonable or because it has been arrived at through a legitimate and reasonable procedure. Coercion Exists where A secures B’s compliance by the threat of deprivation where there is a conflict over values or course of action between A and B. Force A achieves his objectives in the face of B’s non-compliance. Influence Exists where A, without resorting to either a tacit or overt threat of severe deprivation, causes B to change his course of action. Manipulation Is an “aspect” or sub-concept of force (and distinct from coercion, power, influence, and authority) since here compliance is forthcoming in the absence of recognition on the compiler’s part either of the source or the exact nature of demand upon him. Power All forms of successful control by A over B – that is, of A securing B’s compliance.

23 Specialization of urban functions in one place or another is a marked feature in the lands of Western civilization, owing to the development of transport facilities, and takes the form, for example, of an isolated factory, a group of workers’ houses in the open country, a mining camp, or a seaside or inland resort. All these may be described as urban settlements. When these activities occur in some kind of combination in a permanent and compact settlement with some measure of community organization, the

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place assumes the character of a town. A city is a king among towns, enjoying leadership over its neighbors (Dickinson 1967).

24 Mann has noted four core theses of ‘weakening state’ theories: first, global capitalism is undermining the nation-state; second, the social and environmental problems of a global ‘risk society’ grow beyond the reach of singular states; third, new identity-based movements compete with national and class identities and highlight demands originating in civil society; and fourth, it is being assumed that the end of the nuclear confrontation of the world powers ends the sovereignty of individual nation-states (1997: 473-4).

25 Approaches of tourism planning (Hall 1995): Approaches Characteristics Boosterism The simplistic attitude that tourism development is inherently good and of automatic benefit to the hosts. Residents of tourist destinations are not involved in the decision making, planning and policy processes surrounding tourism development. Economic/industry Tourism as a means to promote growth and development in specific areas, the planning emphasis is on the economic impacts of tourism and its most efficient use to create income and employment benefits for regions or communities. Physical/spatial Tourism is regarded as having an ecological base with a resultant need for development to be based upon certain spatial patterns, capacities or thresholds that would minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the physical environment. Community Emphasis on the social and political context within which tourism occurs; advocates greater local control over the development. Sustainable An integrative form of tourism planning which seeks to provide lasting and secure livelihoods with minimal resource depletion, environmental degradation, cultural disruption and social instability. The approach tends to integrate features of the economic, physical/spatial and community traditions.

26 Here promotion means the process during which Dalian Municipal Convention and Exhibition Office reports the projects to the related national web sites. It is learned that the expenses usually occupies 1-2% of the revenue from the exhibition or convention, or even more. Whether or not support is obtained from the government has directly impacts on the benefit of the action.

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